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Scenic Utah Getaway: Sundance Mountain Resort

Fall is an especially good time to visit this intimate and out of the way Wasatch Mountain resort.

view of Utah's Wasatch Range, snow-capped in background, from Ray's Summit in autumn
Utah's Wasatch Range.
Courtesy Sundance Mountain Resort

In 1969, not long after shooting Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman, Robert Redford started work on a quiet Utah getaway: Sundance Mountain Resort. Set some 50 miles from Salt Lake City, Sundance is deliberately small and out of the way, and promises vistas as valued as the snow.

Fall is an especially good time to visit, as the resort sits on Alpine Loop, a popular drive featuring vibrant foliage. After exploring the loop, you can circle back to Sundance and ride the chairlift to Ray's Summit for sweeping views of the Wasatch Range. At the top, you might stretch your legs on the 1.7-mile path to Stewart Falls, or take another lift to the resort's apex, home to Bearclaw Cabin.

Outside the cabin's huge picture windows, you'll see a tapestry of mountaintops in all directions. Back at the base, end the day at the Owl Bar. The watering hole is anchored by a rosewood bar that Redford purchased from a saloon in Thermopolis, Wyoming, a town where the real Butch and Sundance spent time. Raise a snifter, perhaps of High West Double Rye, to toast the famed outlaws.

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