A trip to Park City is a trip to adventure. Or not, if that’s how you roll.
Like most mountain towns in the west, Park City sprung up as a mining town in the late 1800’s. As you walk along the main streets of town, take a look at the buildings because many have a Historical Monument plaque near the door. These plaques give a brief history and life of the building. You’d be surprised how many were banks, mercantile stores and brothels. Walking around downtown Park City is a fun activity any time of year and any time of day. There are plenty of shops to keep you busy window shopping and buying. There are also plenty of restaurants to properly feed and hydrate you.
If we lived in Park City I would visit Utah Olympic Park every single day. I love that place. Our first visit was during the summer of 2001 on our way to Yellowstone. We only budgeted a night and were quickly bummed we hadn’t planned to stay longer. It was the lead-up to the 2002 Winter Olympics and the place was a buzz of activity. There were freestyle skiers practicing their jumps landing in the pool, ski jumpers practicing their jumps and V-form on the giant hills along with bobsled, luge and skeleton teams speeding down their course. We did the tour which took us around all of the grounds and a sneak peek at the venue before the Olympics. The guide told us that after the Olympics, the facility would remain open as a training site and sports camp. We knew this was a place we’d return to often.
Our next trip was a ski trip during the boys’ Christmas vacation. Their modified calendar gave us an extra week which meant for some great ski trips growing up. Mark’s mom and stepdad came for a couple of days and explored the town while we skied. We knew that you could do a bobsled ride just about year round and I knew I wanted to do it. At dinner we talked about it and Mark’s stepdad Dave was all in with me. Since Mark was on the fence about doing it with me, this was his perfect out since I had someone to do it with. To this day, that bobsled ride was the most exciting, exhilarating, jaw-dropping ride of my life complete with Olympic driver Pat Brown. Our top speed was 77.0 mph and was over way too fast. As soon as we were done I wanted to run back to the start and do it all again. It was the best $225 Mark ever spent. The bobsled track is also open in the summer, at a much lower cost and a much much slower speed. Jeff and Kevin did it the first time as soon as Kevin was old enough. Their last time was the summer of 2015 when we stayed a couple of days in Park City on our way back from our McCall, Idaho vacation.
Summer is just as fun, though. You watch future Olympians practice their skills. In addition to a summer bobsled ride, you can zip line, ride the alpine slide and test your athletic abilities on their huge rope course. Of course we braved all these activities while there in the summer of 2015. Dave and I still hold the family speed record for the bobsled, concrete just doesn’t give the speeds that the frozen track does, too bad. Great hiking and biking trails are nearby as well.
There are three resorts to handle all of your skiing and boarding activities except for Deer Valley as they are skiers only. We’ve skied Park City Mountain. It’s a well laid out, fun place to spend your time on the mountain. When the boys were little we put them in ski school the first day of our trips while Mark and I hit the mountain. Mark is an expert skier. He is so graceful coming down the mountain with his perfect form. Me, I don’t fall. I know my limits and happily stay within them. I’m sure I could handle the expert run but I have no desire to. I am perfectly happy cruising the tougher intermediate runs. Mark would ski with me for a little bit until I made him head to the hard stuff where he has the most fun. As the boys got better, they’d ski with me then they moved on to ski with dad. I still love hearing them retell the adventures of their ski runs when we rendezvous for lunch on the mountain.
We’ve only skied Park City once and it was the coldest ski trip of my life. The temp was a whopping 8 degrees with a whipping wind. It was the only time I’ve skied with my hood over my helmet. Looking back at our pictures I swear you can see us shivering under all of our clothes. We only had three days to ski and there was no way we were going to miss out on any of it.
Another fun thing to do is snowmobile. One of Mark’s customers directed us to the nearby town of Heber for our half-day snowmobile adventure. Happily, Mark’s mom Gail and her husband Dave joined us. This was the first snowmobile ride we’d had with a guide. He took us through the forest and into the back country from neatly groomed trails to deeper untouched powder. We stopped at a large meadow where he let us have at it. We raced around; going fast, slow and every speed in between. It was a blast. Gail and Dave were on one sled and she knocked them over several times because she was leaning the wrong way. Oops. The boys weren’t allowed to drive the sleds; I had Jeff with me and we zipped around that meadow squealing with delight the entire time.
Park City RV Resort is our place to stay while in town. Full disclosure, we’ve only camped here in the summer. We’ve stayed at the Hampton Inn for our winter trips. The RV Resort is on the north side of Interstate 80 at the Kimball Junction exit. The first time we stayed, way back in 2001, our site was in the lower part along the creek. We’ve stayed in the upper area near the clubhouse on every trip since then. It is a very nice, clean campground that is open year round. You can see the giant ski hills of Utah Olympic Park from many of the campsites. This campground also has lots for sale and many of the sites in the upper area have been sold but are still available to use. The last time we stayed there our site had a really nice patio set and a custom fire pit. It’s an easy place to stay because it is so close to many activities. You can fish in the creek or ride many mountain bike trails straight from the campground. You can walk or take a short drive to the shops and restaurants at Kimball Junction. You can walk, ride or drive to Olympic Park. I’ve walked it and it is a great cardio exercise. Downtown Park City is just a short drive away.
Next time you’re looking for a Utah adventure, check out Park City. You won’t be sorry.