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Thank you to our 2026 Season Sponsors
September 15, 2022
This will be a week of color change in Spearfish Canyon. Over the last two days I witnessed a significant transformation throughout the Canyon with the birch and aspen trees transitioning to a lighter green color. This change was spotty until yesterday when the whole Canyon seems to have joined the march toward fall. I anticipate we will see emerging yellows from these trees by the end of next week.
Grasshopper on Tansy
Color Change: 25% (Low)
This will be a week of color change in Spearfish Canyon. Over the last two days I witnessed a significant transformation throughout the Canyon with the birch and aspen trees transitioning to a lighter green color. This change was spotty until yesterday when the whole Canyon seems to have joined the march toward fall. I anticipate we will see emerging yellows from these trees by the end of next week.
As you enter the Canyon this weekend, be sure to look up and down the Canyon’s cliffs. Watch for those subtler, muted greens after the Bridal Veil Falls and Devil’s Bathtub parking areas, and directly above the Kissing Rocks. I am still hoping to see a mountain goat crossing this fall. In the meantime, I am listening for bees buzzing as the summer flowers still bloom. I am watching grasshoppers flutter from leaf to leaf. And if you look closely, you will see small gray and brown chipmunks that blend in with the Canyon’s rocks until their fast movements give them away.
September 13, 2022
Today the woodbine, a vibrant red climbing vine, is the star of Spearfish Canyon. You will see woodbine twisting around trees and climbing over rocks around the Canyon’s waterways. Another creeper which could not be ignored today is poison ivy. Poison ivy is giving us a full range of color right now to admire from afar with reds, yellows, and oranges often found all in one plant.
Woodbine in Spearfish Canyon
Color Change: 10% (Low)
Today the woodbine, a vibrant red climbing vine, is the star of Spearfish Canyon. You will see woodbine twisting around trees and climbing over rocks around the Canyon’s waterways. Another creeper which could not be ignored today is poison ivy. Poison ivy is giving us a full range of color right now to admire from afar with reds, yellows, and oranges often found all in one plant.
The bowl at Savoy is still the place to see the early signs of a season in transition. The dark greens of the conifers (spruce and pine) make a nice contrast with the actively lightening deciduous trees (birch and aspen). We will welcome rain that is forecasted later this week to clean off any smoky haze the trees have collected from fires in the Pacific Northwest.
September 9, 2022
This is the first Spearfish Canyon Leaf Report of 2022. The Canyon is only just beginning to show us her fall colors.
Woodbine in Spearfish Canyon
Color Change: 3% (Low)
This is the first Spearfish Canyon Leaf Report of 2022. The Canyon is only just beginning to show us her fall colors.
A drive through the Canyon this weekend will feel like a hide-and-seek game to spot any leaf changes. Here’s a couple hints of where to look: Victoria Lane and the bowl at Savoy. Low-lying Dogbane is covering the western slope after Victoria Lane, about a mile south of Devil’s Bathtub as you drive into the Canyon from Spearfish. The bowl at Savoy is the open valley area to the east of the byway. The trees in this area are lightening their greens as they prepare for more color change.
Rain over the last 24 hours has given the landscape a much-needed reprieve from a hot and dry August. We expect to see the peak of leaf color change in the last week of September.
Hear more from Kimberly Talcott about what to expect in the Canyon this fall in this video.