I'm sorry, but Utah cannot hold a candle to the northeast when it comes to foliage colors. New England has it in the bag for vibrant reds and oranges. That said, the west does yellow very well because of all the aspens. We've got reds and oranges too but they are usually muted, softer shades.
On a recent weekend in SLC, A double-sessioned on Sunday, heading up to Alta after a 3.2 mile walk with H and M. It was 64F at 9:15 a.m., with clouds moving through. I did the usual loop I like to do for exercise: park above Albion base area, walk up the summer road a little bit, continue up through the meadows to the Catherine's Pass trailhead, go up to Catherine's Pass, across the top of Catherine's Area and then back down through the campground.
It is definitely fall up at Alta. The wildflowers are brown and crispy and the hikers up there are looking for foliage now, not flowers. I only saw a handful of people out on the trail, which was a welcome change from the summertime hordes. The upper parking lots were all full, though, so I guess most everyone was hiking to Cecret Lake. Aspens must not like to grow much above 9,000 feet because that's where the best colors were, a gorgeous variety of yellows and pale oranges.
As I drove back down the canyon to the 90 F valley heat (that is far too hot for this time of year). I was astonished at all the traffic heading up the canyon. Oktoberfest is still going on at Snowbird and I guess people were heading up there to enjoy the nice day. There was a solid line of cars from Snowbird entry 2 all the way down to the mouth of the canyon and beyond, all along Wasatch Boulevard - almost as bad as on a powder day.
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