From the Sanpete and Castle Valleys to the top of the Wasatch Plateau, temperatures in August will decrease by about 20 degrees F. Spring brings wildflowers to the forest. The blossoms gradually work their way to higher elevations, providing a colorful and protracted show in wet years. In the summer, the position of the plateaus and mountains above the desert provides relief from scorching temperatures below and wildlife stalks the forest. Fall is colorful with autumn leaves gold aspen and bright red maple interspersed with dark evergreens. Rivers and streams are lined with reds willows and yellow cottonwoods.
Winter brings solitude, snow fall and winter sports .
The Utah Adventure Highway across the Manti-La Sal National Forest is also known as Skyline Drive. This scenic backway has a gravel surface between the Tucker Rest Area US Hwy 6 and Utah Hwy 264, a distance of 24 miles. It then switches to a rough native surface road suitable for high clearance vehicles for the next 63 miles south to Interstate 70. It affords pleasing views of the valleys below, passing a variety of high mountain settings, including reservoirs, glacial cirques, and spruce-fir and aspen forest. I n the La Sal Division of the forest, the southeast area of the forest, travel La Sal Mountain Loop Road beginning from US 191 six miles south of Moab.