When is peak fall color at National Elk Refuge?

Our forecast puts peak color at National Elk Refuge around 30 Sep. The four days to aim for are 29 Sep to 2 Oct. We publish our error rate.

National Elk Refuge Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at National Elk Refuge?

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 color30 SepAim for 29 Sep to 2 Oct

In the refuge today, Sep 25Nearly peak

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

Weather Hard frost Wednesday 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 National Elk Refuge Nearly all of the refuge is in Teton County, which is peak color today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 4 days earlier than the refuge’s own stands: the refuge is nearly peak.

By elevation The refuge runs from about 6,252 to 7,486 feet. That’s 10 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Sep 20, the low ground holds until about Sep 30, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 6,500 foot band.

7,500–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 205%
7,000–7,500 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 258%
6,500–7,000 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 2851%
6,000–6,500 ftNearly peakpeak Sep 3036%

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

Tuesday 29 September to Wednesday 30 September

You’ll find it peak color.

That's the day our forecast puts peak color here.

6,500–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 28
6,000–6,500 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 30

Where to drive: Teton Park Road, about 13 miles · Teton Scenic Byway (ID 31, 32 and 33), about 29 miles · Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 104 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, water birch, thinleaf alder

What turns, and when

quaking aspen44%
narrowleaf cottonwood25%
willow17%
water birch8%
thinleaf alder5%

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