Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.
Weather Wind to 38 mph Saturday. Color may come down before it turns.
Weather Hard frost Tuesday night. Peak may come early and go fast.
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 Shoshone National Forest Park County holds most of the forest and is just past peak today. Fremont County, to the southeast, is on the same day. Sublette County, to the south, is 1 day ahead.By elevation The forest runs from about 5,318 to 11,151 feet. That’s 37 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Aug 30, the low ground holds until about Oct 6, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 8,000 foot band.
10,000–12,000 ftLeaves downpeak Aug 3023%
8,000–10,000 ftFadingpeak Sep 1142%
6,000–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 2227%
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 69%
SepOctNov
Height off 3DEP inside the forest’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the forest 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.
Sunday 20 September to Monday 21 September
You’ll find it leaves down up high, starting to turn lower down.
Up at 10,000 feet the stands peak around Aug 30; down at 6,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 6. Pick your elevation for the day you come.
10,000–12,000 ftLeaves downpeak Aug 30
8,000–10,000 ftJust past peakpeak Sep 11
6,000–8,000 ftPeak colorpeak Sep 22
4,000–6,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 6
Where to drive
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY 296), about 52 miles · Teton Park Road, about 62 miles · Beartooth Highway (US 212), about 66 miles
What turns
quaking aspen, narrowleaf cottonwood, willow, water birch, thinleaf alder
What turns, and when
quaking aspen49%
narrowleaf cottonwood19%
willow13%
water birch6%
thinleaf alder6%
serviceberry2%
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
