When is peak fall color at Anaconda Pintler Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Anaconda Pintler Wilderness around 17 Sep. The four days to aim for are 16 to 19 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Anaconda Pintler Wilderness?

Quaking Aspen, Western Larch, Black Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple, Paper Birch. Montana's fall is a two-act show: aspens and cottonwoods turn gold around 17 Sep, then western larches steal the finale in mid-October, turning entire mountain slopes amber before dropping their needles.

Peak color17 SepAim for 16 to 19 Sep

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Just past peak

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

Weather Wind to 40 mph Friday. Color may come down before it turns.

Weather Hard frost Saturday night. Peak may come early and go fast.

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 Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Deer Lodge County holds most of the wilderness and is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 6 days later than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is just past peak. Granite County, to the north, is 2 days behind. Beaverhead County, to the southeast, is on the same day.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 6,458 to 9,067 feet. That’s 18 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 3, the low ground holds until about Sep 21, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 7,000 to 8,000 foot band.

9,000–10,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 36%
8,000–9,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 930%
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1545%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2119%

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

That’s 1 day later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

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

Wednesday 16 September to Thursday 17 September

You’ll find it just past peak up high, nearly peak lower down.

Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 9; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 21. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 9
7,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 15
6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 21

Where to drive: Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 25 miles · Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 100 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, serviceberry, Rocky Mountain maple, huckleberry, black cottonwood

What turns, and when

quaking aspen49%
serviceberry15%
Rocky Mountain maple15%
huckleberry15%
black cottonwood5%

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

Montana's fall is a two-act show: aspens and cottonwoods turn gold around 17 Sep, then western larches steal the finale in mid-October, turning entire mountain slopes 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 Montana