JACKSON, Wyo. — In Wyoming, you have to be pretty quick to catch a glimpse of fall. Autumn colors in the Cowboy State can be spectacular, if only for a brief time before winter takes hold.

Aspens, willows, and cottonwood trees produce some of the brightest fall colors in Wyoming. Photo: Jacob Gore // Buckrail

Thankfully, Smoky Mountains, with its fall foliage prediction map, has done all the science work and left the leaf watching to us. You don’t have to be an expert on chlorophyll, and compounds like carotenoids and anthocyanins to know when is the best time to catch the peak autumn colors in any given area of the U.S.

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Smoky Mountain’s “Fall Foliage Prediction Map” shows peak time for autumn colors at the end of September in every state. Image: Smoky Mountains
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Here comes the science. Why do leaves change color in the fall? Image: Smoky Mountains

Not that the science isn’t interesting. For instance: Did you know that without the presence of chlorophyll in the leaf, the bright golds, reds, yellows, and browns we enjoy in the fall months would be the natural colors seen year-round?

Pretty cool. Pretty colorful.

Towards the end of this month, most of Wyoming should be in peak color—aspens turn gold, willows and maples glisten a brilliant orange or red—so take a drive around Oxbow Bend, Fall Creek Road, or over Togwotee Pass.