Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Hard frost Tuesday night. Peak may come early and go fast.
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 Gros Ventre Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Teton County, which is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 7 days later than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is just past peak. Sublette County, to the southeast, is 5 days ahead.By elevation The wilderness runs from about 7,013 to 10,386 feet. That’s 24 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 4, the low ground holds until about Sep 28, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 7,000 to 8,000 foot band.
10,000–11,000 ftLeaves downpeak Sep 413%
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1030%
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1629%
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2224%
6,000–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 285%
SepOctNov
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.
Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.
Friday 18 September to Saturday 19 September
You’ll find it fading up high, nearly peak lower down.
Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Sep 4; down at 8,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 22. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
10,000–11,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 4
9,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 10
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 16
7,000–8,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 22
Where to drive
Teton Park Road, about 27 miles · Teton Scenic Byway (ID 31, 32 and 33), about 45 miles · Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 105 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, water birch, Rocky Mountain maple
What turns, and when
quaking aspen66%
narrowleaf cottonwood13%
willow8%
water birch4%
Rocky Mountain maple2%
serviceberry2%
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
