The 2026 foliage season is over in the North Country. The eighth and final I LOVE NY fall foliage report, out Wednesday afternoon, puts every Adirondack reporting station past peak, with no individual Adirondack location even named this week — and the same is true across the Thousand Islands–Seaway, where only one place still gets a line of its own.
This is the wrap-up. If there is one last drive in it, it is a short, local one for the last color along Lake Ontario — not a run for the High Peaks.
Where the color is right now
The headline from this week’s final report:
- The Adirondacks as a whole: past peak — the report gives no individual numbers this week for Lake George, Queensbury, Lake Placid, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, Long Lake, Wilmington, Old Forge or any other Adirondack spot. After leading the state in late September and peaking in early October, the mountains are done for 2026
- Statewide, the peak has moved to the end of the line: peak colors are beginning to reach New York City, and most of Long Island and some locations in the lower Hudson Valley will also be at peak this weekend
And the local angle for us: the Thousand Islands–Seaway section names only Oswego this week, at a full 100% change and past peak — bright red, plum, orange and yellow. That is a turn from last week, when Oswego was the region’s last peak at 100%; it has now followed Pulaski and Potsdam over the top. The report states the region’s other reporting stations are past peak too, with no individual details — Pulaski, Potsdam, Alexandria Bay, Massena, Wanakena and Lowville (Lewis County) have no entry in this final report, so there is no new official number for St. Lawrence County, the river shore, or Lewis County this week.
No place near home is at peak, near peak, or still building. That has not been true in any previous week of this series — it is what the end of the season looks like on paper.
Where to go this weekend
Our pick: Oswego and the Lake Ontario shore, in Oswego County — with expectations set. At 100% change and past peak, Oswego is the only named local location in the final report, and the colors it still shows are the late-season ones worth a short drive: bright red and plum mixed with orange and yellow. Go this weekend if you go at all, and go for a lake-shore walk and the last color, not a peak display — last weekend was Oswego’s peak, and there is no local runner-up this week because no other local place is named.
If you want true peak this weekend, you would have to chase it well south of here: the report’s most significant changes this week are White Plains, Jefferson Valley and Cold Spring in the Hudson Valley, Shelter Island, Valley Stream, West Hempstead and Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, and the Bronx in New York City — all at or reaching peak. That is a trip, not a local leaf-peeping drive, and it marks where the state’s season finishes.
What’s fading, and what’s still coming
Fading: Everything local — in fact, most of the state north of the Hudson Valley. The Adirondacks are past peak at every reporting station, the Thousand Islands–Seaway is past peak throughout, and the Capital-Saratoga, Catskills and Chautauqua-Allegheny regions are past peak as well. What remains in the North Country woods is the quiet end of the palette: late golds, russets, plum tones along the shore, and a lot of bare branches and fallen leaves.
Still coming: Nothing local. The state’s one remaining act is downstate, and it is already written into this final report: most of Long Island and some lower Hudson Valley locations peak this weekend, the Bronx is at peak with other parts of New York City near peak, and peak is expected in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island during the week of November 11–17, with significant leaf drop expected there that week too. After that, the 2026 season is closed statewide — which is why I LOVE NY calls this its final report of the season.
For the full statewide breakdown, the I LOVE NY foliage report has the final observer reports from across New York.
Planning ahead for next fall? Our Chasing Fall Color in the Adirondacks guide covers the routes and overlooks worth your time — its Old Forge and Whiteface stops are closed for the season, which the guide itself has already been updated to say, and it will be the place to start when the color returns next September.
Missed last week? See last week’s update for the week Oswego had the last peak near home while the mountains were already past peak.
Thank you for following along through eight weeks of reports — from the first High Peaks color in September, through the peak moving south week by week to Pulaski and then Oswego, to this final past-peak week. See you next fall.