Jackson Hole & Grand Teton National Park
During September, I’ll work on two pages simultaneously. This September Foliage 2015 post will contain more specific information about the every changing foliage status in the area. The September 2015 Daily Updates & Photos for Grand Teton National Park & JH Page will contain some foliage information, but will focus more on wildlife and landscapes. You’ll want to go to both regularly.
Archived Resources:
You can go back to the September Daily Updates and Photos pages for the previous two years and probably get a good idea of how the entire month unfolds.
September 2015 | September 2014: | September 2013: It will probably be apparent that not all areas change at the same time and some of the fall foliage can go well into October.
- Polarizing Filters for Fall Foliage
- Fall in the Tetons: Tips for viewing and photographing the premiere season!
- Fall On Shadow Mountain
- Fall at Oxbow Bend
- Fall in the Snake River Canyon:
- Late October Wildlife: Owls and Moose
- Great Gray Owls of Fall
- Late September Panoramics
- Moose Courtship Behavior
- Recent Images: September 1-15, 2013
- October Daily Updates for Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole
Foliage Scale 2015
This scale should help with visualizing the approximate color hues. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being summer green and 10 being peak), I will give a three part number. The first one is an average of the least changed. The middle number is the overall average and the last number is the status of the most advanced trees in an area. Note: Some aspens and some Mountain Maple turn orange and red, while many aspens, cottonwoods, and willows peak at something in the 8 or 9 range before the leaves fall or turn brown.
Remember, peak Fall foliage is not a one day event! It evolves over several weeks. Some areas go first, then lose leaves while others are just beginning. You should be able to find colorful foliage anytime from around the 10th of September to the first week in October.
September 8
For this first entry, I’m just going to give an overview. Some of the upcoming entries will be more specific. There was some shifting from summer green to slightly olive around September 1st, prompting me to suggest it might be an early Fall. I would have predicted more changing in the past week than I am actually seeing. Valley wide, we are probably averaging 2-3-4, but there are stands or areas slightly ahead. If you look hard enough, you can even find some near peak trees. Willows along the Gros Ventre and some areas of the Snake are ahead of the Cottonwoods. Cottonwoods, at least at the moment, look duller than I remember and not turning bright yellow. Aspens are shifting in most areas. The brightest group I’ve seen is along the East Boundary Road north of Antelope Flats Road. Mountain Maple (in the Snake River Canyon) is behind last year but maybe ahead of most years. There are less Choke Cherries on the branches this year, but Black Hawthorne berries are plentiful along the Moose-Wilson Road. Mountain Ash berries are bright orange now. Most of the grasses and pastures are golden in color. The underbrush is turning bright colors in most areas.
Recent Photos
September 4: Colorful Leaf
September 4: Advanced Aspens near Jackson Lake Junction.
September 4: Grass and Aspens near Arizona Creek.
September 6: East Boundary Road north of Antelope Flats Road. Several large stands of aspens are already bright yellow.
September 6: Black Bear in Low Grasses along the Moose-Wilson Road. In most areas, the ground cover is a mixture of green, gold, and yellow.
September 8: This was captured in the morning light, so it has a heavy gold cast. Willows and Cottonwoods are changing fast along the river bottoms.
September 8: Ditch Creek: Cottonwoods, grass, Tetons, thin clouds, and haze.
September 9: GTNP Warm Springs Road: This is a hillside inside GTNP, located across from the Welcome to GTNP sign along the Highway— just north of the National Fish Hatchery.
September 9: South of Jackson: I drove south of town a few miles to check out the foliage status. Cottonwoods along the Snake River in that area are still “summer green”. Aspens are beginning to change as seen here.
