The Adirondack foliage season has turned a corner. The sixth I LOVE NY fall foliage report, out Wednesday afternoon, says leaves in the Adirondacks will be mostly past peak this weekend — while the best color in our part of the state has moved downhill and south, with near-peak and peak leaves now dominating the central and southern portions of the Thousand Islands.
If you still want a leaf-peeping drive, don’t aim for the High Peaks this weekend. Aim closer to home, and toward the water.
Where the color is right now
The headline from this week’s report:
- The Adirondacks as a whole: mostly past peak — the region that led the state all season is now winding down, alongside the Catskills
- Lake Placid: 100% color change, past peak — brilliance now average and muted; lots of yellows and golds, with muted reds and burgundies left on the hillsides. The local observers add one hopeful note: sunshine expected this week could make the past-peak color hang on a bit longer
- Tupper Lake: 100%, past peak — just a few splashes of yellow and red left, and many bare trees
- Adirondack Hub (Schroon Lake area): 100%, past peak — brilliance dull to average, only oranges and yellows left, and leaves actively falling. Their headline says it plainly: “Peak is fading fast!”
- Crown Point, Ticonderoga and Queensbury: all at 100% and past peak — the eastern and southern spots that were still peaking last week have finished their turn
- Lake George: 65% change and at peak — very bright orange, yellow and red. It was the region’s laggard last week at just over 45%, and I LOVE NY names it one of this week’s most significant changes in the Adirondacks
And the local angle for us: the Thousand Islands–Seaway is where the action moved — and this week’s numbers split the region in two. Potsdam is at 100% and past peak (yellow and orange), so the northern river lowlands are done. But farther south, Pulaski is at 90% and at peak, with bright orange, red, yellow and purple, and Oswego is at 80% and near peak, with fall color taking over the cityscape. I LOVE NY names Pulaski and Oswego the region’s most significant changes this week. In Lewis County, the report’s only entry this week is Lowville, at 90% and past peak — the western foothills that peaked around Croghan last week are on the far side of peak now too. Note that Massena, Alexandria Bay, Wanakena, Croghan and Harrisville aren’t listed among this week’s observer reports, so there’s no new official number for the river shore itself — the reported color has moved south of it.
Where to go this weekend
Our pick: the Pulaski area and the Salmon River corridor, in Oswego County — just south of the Jefferson County line. At 90% change and at peak, with bright orange, red, yellow and purple, it’s the strongest reported color anywhere near the tri-county this week — and October in Pulaski already pairs the color with the salmon run, so the riverbanks give you both shows at once. Go this weekend; at 90% and peaking, it won’t hold long.
Runner-up if you’re headed east: Lake George, at 65% and at peak with very bright orange, yellow and red — the Adirondacks’ biggest mover this week after trailing the whole region a week ago, and the one Adirondack corridor whose best weekend is this one. Oswego, at 80% and near peak, is the closer-to-home alternative in the same southern swing.
What’s fading, and what’s still coming
Fading: The mountains — and now the foothills and the northern lowlands too. Lake Placid, Tupper Lake and the Schroon Lake area are all at a full 100% change and past peak, Tupper Lake already shows many bare trees, Crown Point, Ticonderoga and Queensbury have followed them to 100% past peak, Potsdam is at 100% past peak, and Lowville is at 90% past peak. There’s still color to see — the golds and burgundies of late season are their own kind of pretty — but the brilliant phase across the High Peaks, the interior and the St. Lawrence lowlands is over for 2026.
Still coming: A short list, locally: Oswego is still building at 80% and near peak, and Lake George is having its peak weekend now at 65%. Farther south, the Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley, Greater Niagara and Chautauqua-Allegheny regions are at peak this weekend, and Long Island is only at midpoint, so the state’s season still has a southern act. Next week’s report will likely be the Adirondacks’ closing chapter and the last color along the Lake Ontario shore.
The season is turning: first flakes on the High Peaks
Here’s the surest sign the calendar has flipped. The first snowflakes of the season did fall on the high country last weekend, October 17–18 — just as forecast. Whiteface Mountain saw its first snow accumulations early Saturday morning, and National Weather Service reports put small amounts on the ground in the Adirondack communities: about 0.3 inches in Long Lake and 0.1 inches each in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, with traces at other high-elevation spots.
To be clear about what that was — and wasn’t: this was a dusting that coated the grass at elevation, not accumulation, and it was not tri-county snow. The Watertown area’s weekend stayed as forecast — no wintry precipitation in the lowlands. But on the same mountains where the leaves are now falling at 100% change, winter has knocked once already. Both seasons are in the same photograph right now, and not for long.
For the full statewide breakdown, the I LOVE NY foliage report is updated every Wednesday afternoon with observer reports from across New York. I LOVE NY foliage report
Planning a drive? Our Chasing Fall Color in the Adirondacks guide covers the routes and overlooks worth your time.
Missed last week? See last week’s update for the week the peak shifted to Croghan and the eastern foothills.