The Wasatch Mountains flanking Salt Lake City to the east are cut by seven accessible canyons splashed with color as the days get shorter. Bright yellows to purplish reds dress parts of City Creek, Emigration, Millcreek, Red Butte, Parley's, Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. The granite and fragrant pines, fir, and blue spruce in the higher canyons provide a spectacular backdrop to the deciduous show.

Aspen stands run golden streaks down timbered slopes, a familiar herald of winter. Back-fired by hard sunlight, their glow is so thrilling it's hard to believe it's the visual equivalent of a swan song-those leaves are soon to drop, leaving sketchy white trunks. The Rocky Mountain maple, too, will blast then shed its contrasting crimson notes.

Also in the Wasatch look for bigtooth maple bleeding across the landscape at about 5,000 feet to 9,000 feet. It's usually in north-facing canyons along streams. The lobed leaves of gambel oak turn yellow, some of them even deep red. In lower to middle elevations, alder and western water birch blush shades of yellow, as do narrowleaf cottonwood and the box elder along wet areas.

Utah has variety. Many shrubs, too, can light a fiery spectacle in fall. In wet places along bottom valley areas chokecherry bushes burst into red. In drier exposed sites you'll see golden currant, wood's rose, oakleaf, serviceberry, and sumac burning the spectrum from soft to vivid scarlet.

An especially nice sight of fall in the high desert: The rubber rabbitbrush turns golden yellow, but not from its leaves. A late bloomer, it flowers yellow with silver foliage. You'll see it right along the roadside.

The Wasatch, as well as the Oquirrh Mountains to the west of Salt Lake City, are webbed with trails-the rule of thumb being that where there's fall color, a good hike might be nearby. In the Oquirrhs, Butterfield and Middle are two scenic canyons less traveled. The Uinta Mountains, just northwest of Salt Lake, hold Utah's highest peak, and are a good place to find fall's pyrotechnics.

Autumn drama awaits in Provo Canyon about 40 miles south of Salt Lake on I-15, the setting for Robert Redford's resort, Sundance. You can take the Heber Valley Railroad (801-654-5601) through this area.

Logan Canyon, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake and just east of the city of Logan, has a scenic byway, Highway 89, with cliffs, rushing river, aspen groves, and towering firs. The canyon road winds 40 miles to Garden City on the shores of Bear Lake and is popular with bicyclists.-C.C.