When is peak fall color at North Absaroka Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at North Absaroka Wilderness around 24 Sep. The four days to aim for are 23 to 26 Sep. We publish our error rate.

North Absaroka Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at North Absaroka Wilderness?

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 color24 SepAim for 23 to 26 Sep

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Peak color

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

Weather Wind to 37 mph Saturday. Color may come down before it turns.

1 report came in from Park County this week, 1 of them just starting. 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 North Absaroka Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Park County, which is just past peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 2 days earlier than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is peak color.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 6,713 to 10,302 feet. That’s 26 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Aug 30, the low ground holds until about Sep 25, 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 Aug 309%
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 625%
8,000–9,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1231%
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 1924%
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 259%

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 23 September to Thursday 24 September

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

Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Aug 30; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Sep 25. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

10,000–11,000 ftLeaves downpeak Aug 30
9,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 6
8,000–9,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 12
7,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 19
6,000–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 25

Where to drive: Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 17 miles · Beartooth Highway (US 212), about 30 miles · Teton Park Road, about 79 miles
What turns: narrowleaf cottonwood, quaking aspen, willow, water birch, Rocky Mountain maple

What turns, and when

narrowleaf cottonwood28%
quaking aspen26%
willow19%
water birch9%
Rocky Mountain maple6%
serviceberry6%

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