Logan Canyon Scenic Byway
The Colorful Trail of the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway

Home to ‘the best snow on Earth,’ Utah is world-renowned for its snow in winter. But what of its colors in the fall? The striking gold and crimson trees and shrubs grace both neighborhoods and backcountry. If you want to see Utah in the height of its beauty, come to the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway for a fascinating fall foliage tour you won’t soon forget.

The first trees that start in Logan Canyon are the mountain and canyon maples, which generally start their fiery transformation at the beginning of October. Visit First Dam at the western terminus of the byway, right outside of the charming college town of Logan, Utah. Here, along the Logan River, enjoy the smell of autumn and the brilliant colors of the shrubbery and trees. Have fun wading, boating or fishing in the reservoir behind the dam, sunbathing on the grassy shore, playing volleyball, or feeding ducks amidst the gently drifting leaves.

Continue your journey through Logan Canyon and revel in the subtle differences in color between each maple tree to another. About two miles north from First Dam, stretch your legs and hike up the River Trail, where songbirds flirt and fly between crimson maples and sunshine-yellow box elders. For fun history as well as beautiful scenery, visit one of the most beautiful and popular of Logan Canyon’s fall hikes, the Crimson Trail. Its trailhead is at the top of Spring Hollow Campground near Second Dam, about three miles up the byway from the River Trail. The school colors of long-demolished Brigham Young College in Logan gave their name to this trail. Crimson and gold, they were chosen after the vibrant maple trees that thrive here. The Crimson Trail rises steeply above the canyon and skirts the upper edge of a prominent band of limestone rock called the China Wall. The hike provides thrilling views both up and down Logan Canyon.

From the Crimson Trail, you can spot the Wind Caves across the canyon. These rock formations grace one section of the Canyon Wall, where the wind has eroded limestone outcropping into unusual caves and arches. Bring your camera to this trailhead, located 5.2 miles from the mouth of the Logan Canyon, for gorgeous, shimmering red and yellow maple and box elder trees will surround you at every turn.

Travel on the byway just four miles northeast from the Wind Caves to Right Hand Fork, an ATV and four-wheel-drive enthusiast’s paradise. Surrounded by maples and golden quaking aspen with their white trunks and unique shivering leaves, this area’s dirt and gravel roads in the mountain backcountry link Logan Canyon to the equally colorful Cowley and Blacksmith Fork Canyons of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

The quaking aspen in the upper canyon start to change to gold in mid-October, typically peaking in color a week or two after nearby maple trees or other shrubs. In years when the maples and ashes in the canyons turn about the same time as the aspen in the mountains, you can have a continuous show of glorious color along your entire drive, possibly dusted with the white of an early snowfall at the end!

For an in-depth view of aspen foliage, trek up the mountain on the Jardine Juniper Trail, which is a little more than one mile further along the byway from Right Hand Fork. This trail is nine miles round-trip and at its summit is the Jardine Juniper Tree, a huge tree gnarled and bent from more than 3,000 years of living. Come be one of the lucky people to climb the canyons and see one of the oldest living things on Earth.

For more glorious aspen, head about five miles from Jardine Juniper to Temple Fork Road. This road leads through aspen groves and deep green fir forests to the final resting place of a local legend: “Old Ephraim,” the last grizzly bear killed in Utah. This road was named Temple Fork Road because members of the LDS (Mormon) Church used the road to mill timber for the Logan LDS Temple in the late 1800s. Today, hunters, four-wheelers, campers, mountain bikers and horseback riders come here spring, summer and fall for the wide-open spaces, exciting terrain, abundant wildlife and scenic beauty.

For more autumn adventures, head 7.6 miles up the byway to the Franklin Basin Area, a great place to fish, ride on horseback, and even snowmobile and ski in season. Before the snow falls, you won’t want to miss the area’s fall foliage. With aspen glowing with gold leaves and the crisp feel of fall in the air, you’ll get a real scent of the season.

Beaver Mountain is known mainly for its awesome winter skiing opportunities, but its fall foliage is equally stunning. Watch the golden aspen leaves dance in the sunlight on this beautiful mountain, located just one mile north of the byway from Beaver Junction. A few miles further up the byway, Swan Flat Road and the Sinks, popular camping, hunting, and winter recreation areas, are other phenomenal places to absorb vast stretches of yellow aspen in the autumn.

If you can’t get enough of the exquisite colors in one day, try staying overnight in Sunrise Campground before it closes for the season. The highest of Logan Canyon’s campgrounds, Sunrise offers 27 campsites amidst glorious aspen and fir not far from views of azure Bear Lake. In the morning, admire the sunrise over the lake as you continue along the byway to Garden City. Be sure to try one of the region’s “world-famous” raspberry shakes, a local favorite that premieres in the summer and is offered at several locations through the beginning of fall.

Take a fantastic journey through fall foliage on Logan Canyon Scenic Byway, where you’ll see crimson leaves as red as the ripest apple and golden foliage as rich as a gold nugget. Don’t miss this phenomenal chance to see the autumn beauty of northern Utah’s mountains and backcountry.