Utah's 10 Best Fall Colors Drives

Aspens in Fairview Canyon - by Dave Webb

Fall colors are now starting in Utah's high country. Aspen trees will soon be taking on rich yellow and orange hues. River birch will soon be turning red. Now's the time to make plans for fall drives.

Colors will build during the next weeks and will probably peak in northern Utah in late September or early October. In southern Utah's canyon country, colors will be spectacular through much of October. In the Zion Park/St. George area, colors will continue into November.

Utah has some wonderful scenic drives that show off our autumn foliage. This page gives many ideas. Here are my favorites:

1. Logan Canyon in extreme northern Utah
2. Alpine Loop, in the Provo area, past Sundance Resort and the east side of Mt Timpanogos
3. Mirror Lake Byway (Hwy 150)
4. Energy Loop, Huntington Canyon and Eccles Canyon, in Central Utah
5. Highway 12, Utah's All American Road, over Boulder Mt and around the town of Boulder, and down into the Escalante Canyons
6. Cedar Breaks area, east of Cedar City in southwestern Utah
7. Fish Lake backway, in Central Utah
8. Flaming Gorge-Uintas Scenic Byway (US-191) in northeastern Utah
9. La Sal Mountain Loop Road near Moab
10. Smithsonian Butte backway near Zion Park