When is peak fall color at Grand Teton National Park?

Our forecast puts peak color at Grand Teton National Park around 27 Sep. The four days to aim for are 26 to 29 Sep. We publish our error rate.

Grand Teton National Park Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Grand Teton National Park?

Quaking Aspen, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple, Water Birch, Willow. The Tetons rising above the golden cottonwoods of the Snake River flats is one of the most famous fall landscapes in the American West, and the aspen groves at elevation add hillsides of gold.

Peak color27 SepAim for 26 to 29 Sep

In the park today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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

2 reports came in from Teton County this week, 2 of them patchy color. Our date held. See the county on the map.

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

Around Grand Teton National Park Nearly all of the park is in Teton County, which is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 1 day earlier than the park’s own stands: the park is nearly peak.

By elevation The park runs from about 6,364 to 10,062 feet. That’s 25 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 2, the low ground holds until about Sep 27, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 7,000 foot band.

10,000–11,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 25%
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 810%
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1513%
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2227%
6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2745%

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

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

The place

The Tetons rise more than 7,000 feet straight off the valley floor with almost no foothills. No gradual buildup, no warning. You drive north from Jackson and the 13,770-foot Grand Teton just appears above you like a wall. It is the most dramatic mountain front in the Lower 48.

Established 1929. About 3.3 million/year visitors.

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

Saturday 26 September to Sunday 27 September

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

Up at 9,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 8; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 27. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 8
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 15
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 22
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 27

Where to drive: Teton Park Road, about 4 miles · Teton Scenic Byway (ID 31, 32 and 33), about 25 miles · Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 91 miles
What turns: narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, quaking aspen, water birch, thinleaf alder
Entrance: $35

What turns, and when

narrowleaf cottonwood38%
willow25%
quaking aspen22%
water birch13%
thinleaf alder2%

Every one of these turns yellow or gold here. The shades only tell the species apart.

Also named across Wyoming, outside what the canopy read measures here: Rocky Mountain Maple.

The Tetons rising above the golden cottonwoods of the Snake River flats is one of the most famous fall landscapes in the American West, and the aspen groves at elevation add hillsides of gold.

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 Wyoming