When is peak fall color at Welcome Creek Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Welcome Creek Wilderness around 2 Oct. The four days to aim for are 1 to 4 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Welcome Creek Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Welcome Creek 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 2 Oct, then western larches steal the finale in mid-October, turning entire mountain slopes amber before dropping their needles.

Peak color2 OctAim for 1 to 4 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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

Weather Wind to 41 mph Friday. Color may come down before it turns.

Weather Hard frost Sunday 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 Welcome Creek Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Granite County, which is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 7 days earlier than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is nearly peak. Ravalli County, to the south, is 14 days behind.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 4,085 to 7,072 feet. That’s 22 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 15, the low ground holds until about Oct 3, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 4,000 to 5,000 foot band.

7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 156%
6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2033%
5,000–6,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 2634%
4,000–5,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 322%

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

Thursday 1 October to Friday 2 October

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

Up at 6,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 20; down at 5,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 3. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

6,000–7,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 20
5,000–6,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 26
4,000–5,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 3

Where to drive: Skalkaho Pass (MT 38), about 28 miles · Seeley-Swan Highway (MT 83), about 55 miles · Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 145 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, serviceberry, Rocky Mountain maple, huckleberry, black cottonwood

What turns, and when

quaking aspen45%
serviceberry14%
Rocky Mountain maple14%
huckleberry14%
black cottonwood8%
willow6%

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 2 Oct, 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