Fall Hiking around Park City

 

Photo: Utah Office of Tourism
Photo: Utah Office of Tourism

Have you ever returned to a place from childhood and felt like it was bigger? Park City, Utah is a place that you can visit all year round and enjoy in every season. I am always happy to return and every time I make new discoveries of what to do and where to stay.

Since I was a little girl, I have been skiing. I learned to ski at Big Bear Mountain in California but spent most of my childhood vacations on the slopes at Park City Mountain in Utah. I did not take to skiing right away. It was cold. I know there was snow so it had to be cold but I had cold fingers and frozen toes and I just didn’t really like being cold. It also seemed that the skis, boots and poles were as heavy as me and I just could not figure out how to carry all that gear. Once on the mountain I was able to maneuver down the slopes but in my early years there were many tears as I tried to learn to traverse the trails.

climbing-img_6089I always wondered what would it be like without the snow? I went to Utah in the fall and discovered it is stunning! I loved taking the chairlift to the top of the mountain and wandering down the trails and stopping to smell the flowers! The views are just as magnificent and honestly I felt I could enjoy them more with my feet in shoes and not attached to skis and boots. I highly recommend a fall visit to Park City, Utah as the leaves are changing colors and the air smells so sweet.

You can also test out the golf courses, shopping and unbelievable mountain biking. If you want to learn more about the hiking trails, check out Mountain Trails which has taken care of non-motorized trails for over twenty years.

golf-entrada_3_unlmtd-nick-steve-driggsMake sure to make a stop at the Utah Olympic Park from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. It is free to visit the park and the nearly 400 acres included competition venues for Nordic jumping as well as bobsled, luge and skeleton. You can watch athletes in training, take a guided tour or if you are over sixteen, you can go in the bobsled at up to 80mph with up to 5 G’s of force which is like a 40-story drop in less than a minute! Let me know how it is—I am not ready for that tour!

I plan to return for another Fall hiking vacation and hike at Deer Valley and Canyons. I ski at all three areas but have only hiked at Park City Mountain. I also highly recommend you visit the Mighty 5 in Utah: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. I have visited Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion and I plan to return again as well as discover the others. Utah is filled with gorgeous scenery and adventure. My next trip I want to go hot air ballooning; what is on your list?

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All photos courtesy of Utah Office of Tourism

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

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