When is peak fall color at Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests?

Our forecast puts peak color at Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests around 26 Sep. The four days to aim for are 25 to 28 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests?

Quaking Aspen, Black Cottonwood, Western Larch, Rocky Mountain Maple, Water Birch. Aspens turn gold on the mountainsides, cottonwoods line the river corridors in yellow, and western larches in the northern panhandle go deep amber before dropping their needles.

Peak color26 SepAim for 25 to 28 Sep

In the forest today, Sep 25Peak color

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

No new reports from the ground here this week.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Idaho County holds most of the forest and is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 2 days later than the forest’s own stands: the forest is peak color. Clearwater County, to the north, is 12 days behind.

By elevation The forest runs from about 3,229 to 7,172 feet. That’s 26 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 14, the low ground holds until about Oct 9, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 5,000 to 6,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 147%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2121%
5,000–6,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2730%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 326%
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 912%

Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest stands in it.

Plan this trip

If you can only come on certain days

Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.

ArrivingLeaving

Friday 25 September to Saturday 26 September

You’ll find it just past peak up high, starting to turn lower down.

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 21; down at 4,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 9. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 21
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 27
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 3
3,000–4,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 9

Where to drive: Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 72 miles · Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 120 miles · Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway (ID 21), about 141 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, serviceberry, Rocky Mountain maple, huckleberry, black cottonwood

What turns, and when

quaking aspen47%
serviceberry15%
Rocky Mountain maple15%
huckleberry15%
black cottonwood5%
willow3%

Also named across Idaho, outside what the canopy read measures here: Western Larch, Water Birch.

Aspens turn gold on the mountainsides, cottonwoods line the river corridors in yellow, and western larches in the northern panhandle go deep amber before dropping their needles.

This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made

All of Idaho