2 Best Sights in Park City and the Southern Wasatch, Utah

Beyond Timpanogos Cave, Highway 92 continues up American Fork Canyon before branching off to climb behind Mount Timpanogos itself. Designated the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, this winding road offers stunning mountain views and fall foliage in the latter months before dropping into Provo Canyon to the south. The 14-mile round-trip Timpooneke Trail and the 14-mile round-trip Aspen Grove Trail, both off the byway, reach the summit of Mount Timpanogos. Also along this highway is the famed Sundance Resort. Closed, depending on snowfall, from late October to late May, the Alpine Loop is free to drive, but you need to purchase a National Forest pass ($6, good for three days) to park at any of the trailheads and recreation areas along the route. This is the roundabout way to get to scenic Provo Canyon and Deer Creek Reservoir from I–15 (if heading south from Salt Lake City); the more direct route is U.S. 189 east from near Orem and Provo (stop by Bridal Veil Falls on your way in).

East of Park City, this scenic byway winds through aspens and ponderosa pines, skirts alpine lakes and waterfalls, and reaches 11,943-foot Bald Mountain. The ride is good, but getting out of the car is better. A spectacular hike is the 5-mile, five-lake Lofty Lake Loop, which starts at the Pass Lake Trailhead at mile 32. It's also a great place to snowshoe in the winter. Keep an eye out for moose, wildflowers, and changeable weather. Reward yourself with jerky from Samak Smoke House, a typical dry goods store near the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest's Kamas entrance.