Catskills Peak Foliage Is Here This Weekend

Catskills peak foliage is here, and it landed on the long weekend. The fourth I LOVE NY foliage report of 2026, published Wednesday, puts Windham and Belleayre Mountain at 100% color change for the weekend of October 10–12, with Haines Falls, the gateway to Kaaterskill Falls, at 85%. NewYorkUpstate.com’s October 7 read of the map carried the other half of the story in its headline: parts of the Adirondacks have already slipped past peak.

Our read is simple. If you have been waiting for one weekend, this is it, and the Catskills are the shorter drive. Below: what moved in a week, where to look from a base in the Town of Hunter, and how to book a last-minute night without wasting the color on the Thruway.

What moved in one week

Last week, our Hunter Mountain fall foliage guide worked from the September 30 report, when the mid and upper Catskills were around their midpoint. Seven days later, the high ground has caught up. Here is the same set of places, side by side:

Spotters in the Catskills describe brilliant reds, bright yellows and pops of orange and pink. I LOVE NY names Colchester, Stamford and Windham as the Catskills places with the biggest changes this week. The program defines peak as the best overall look the leaves will have all season, weighing color, brilliance and leaf drop, so 100% is the number to plan around, not a promise about every slope.

Up north, the reds are on the ground. Down here, they are still on the trees.

Why the Catskills, not the Adirondacks, this weekend

Two reasons: timing and distance. The Adirondack reports for Whiteface, Long Lake, Lake Pleasant and Old Forge now read “just past peak” or “past peak”, with many reds already down. Under the Adirondack Explorer’s copy of the report, one reader put it bluntly on October 7: foliage “is pretty much history in the northern Adirondacks.” Another, from Lake Pleasant, wrote the next morning that the brilliant reds are mostly gone and it is now yellow, gold and brown.

Then there is the drive. With no traffic, routing software puts Hunter about 2 hours 40 minutes from Midtown, against roughly 5 hours 50 minutes for Lake Placid or Old Forge. On a holiday weekend those gaps get wider, not narrower. Our Catskills fall comparison against USA Today’s top 10 runs the same numbers for other fall destinations.

Where to look from a Hunter base

Drive times below are free-flow routing estimates from Clove Creek Cabin in Lanesville, in the Town of Hunter. Add time on Saturday afternoon.

Haines Falls and Kaaterskill Falls, 85%. About 12 miles, 20 minutes. This is the week to see the falls in color, and everyone else has read the same report. Go before 9 a.m., park only in marked lots, and do not walk the shoulder of Route 23A. A state advisory report this spring floated timed-entry passes for the Kaaterskill Clove; it was a recommendation, not a rule, so check DEC notices before you go. Our Kaaterskill Falls hiking guide covers the trail.

Windham, 100%. About 19 miles, 30 minutes. The report’s top number in Greene County. Take one loop through the village and the ridge roads above it, then come back. Windham does not need to share an afternoon with the falls.

Belleayre Mountain, Highmount, 100%. About 17 miles, 28 minutes. The Route 28 side, and the choice if Route 23A looks jammed. It is a different county and a different crowd.

Hunter Mountain, no separate reading. The report has no Hunter entry, so use Haines Falls and Windham as the nearest signals. October 10–11 is the Oktoberfest weekend of Hunter’s Colors in the Catskills festival; Greene County lists free admission, with Scenic SkyRide tickets sold separately. If the color is on the upper slopes, the lift is the quickest way to see it from above. If you want trails instead of lifts, our list of Catskills hikes for fall foliage views picks up where this one stops.

Booking a cabin this late

Columbus Day weekend is one of the busiest of the fall, so we will not pretend a three-night stay is easy to find on Thursday. Three ways to make a last-minute plan work:

Check single nights. A Sunday-to-Monday stay catches the holiday Monday and skips the Saturday rush on the roads.

Look at midweek, October 13–15. The next report comes out Wednesday, October 14. Leaf drop and weather decide how long 100% holds, and no report can promise that a week out, but midweek roads and trailheads are quieter either way.

Keep the plan small. One drive a day, then back to the deck. Our October weekend plan for two lays out that pace, and our guide to planning foliage by town base explains why a short radius beats a long loop.

For a second day out, apples are a good fit for peak week. Read our apple picking guide after the April freeze first, and call the orchard before you drive. Or go west for the cider: our Fly Creek Cider Mill day trip covers the mill readers just voted America’s best cidery, about two hours from Hunter.

Clove Creek Cabin is our bookable base in Lanesville, in the Town of Hunter, Greene County: two queen bedrooms, an indoor fireplace and, on about 600 square feet of deck, a hot tub, a sauna and a Solo Stove fire pit. Cell service on Route 214 is little to none; the Wi-Fi is business-grade; the nearest store is Tops in Tannersville, 6.9 miles away. Check dates for Clove Creek. Juniper Ridge, our tiny cabin in Jefferson, Schoharie County, is coming soon and not yet bookable. Follow the Juniper Ridge build.