Park City, UT
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Trail Data
Park City is home to a huge inventory of trails and open spaces. With so many outdoor recreation opportunities to enjoy, it is a considerable task to collect and process meaningful data from them all. As with mountain weather, trail data can prove unpredictable. Each year, peak seasons start at different times, human behaviors and motivations change, and factors beyond our control shift the finish line for best laid plans. As we explore emerging trends in trail data, we have to account for the reality that a peak weekend during the COVID-19 pandemic may look different than one in 2024... And this year it might be rainy (or snowing!) on what was the busiest day of last season. How long will trails be muddy following the largest snowpack in Utah's history? When might the aspens in Bonanza Flat drop their leaves in the fall? Park City's Trails & Open Space team continues to refine their data collection and analysis processes to account for uncertainties, make well informed operational decisions, and to provide the best possible trail experiences for Park City.
Visitation & Trail Usage:
Park City's trail system is world renowned, and for good reason. With so many amazing options for outdoor recreation, our trails have attracted visitors from around Utah and beyond, and continue to grow in popularity. Our visitation data helps us understand how many people, bikes, and dogs are getting on our trails, where they are coming from, and whether any observed trends require attention from our team.
Bonanza Flat Conservation Area
Bonanza Flat regularly experiences impacts from "overflow" parking, where vehicles park illegally outside of designated trailhead parking lots. We observe overflow impacts virtually every weekend during peak season.
On average, Saturdays and Sundays are the busiest days in Bonanza Flat, and Wednesdays are the slowest. If you are looking to avoid crowds, get a good parking spot, and maximize your chance at seeing wildlife, we recommend avoiding peak weekends.
Bloods Lake Trail is one of Park City's most popular hiking destinations, with visitation steadily increasing each year. Visitors from all over enjoy the area's beautiful scenery. Weekends and leaf peeping season are popular times to visit, but weather can change trail conditions quickly.
Paved Pathways
Park City's paved pathways serve commuters and recreators alike, and the Rail Trail is among our most popular ways to get around town. July 4th has consistently been the busiest day on the system.
Rail Trail
McLeod Creek
Poison Creek
Enforcement
In 2022, Park City's Trails & Open Space team adopted a trailhead parking enforcement program to help curb negative trailhead parking behaviors, and address carrying capacity concerns. This data helps us understand the "where, when, and why" of violations, and adjust our operational priorities accordingly. Generally speaking, our goal is to reduce citations through education, well-placed signage, and improvements to trailhead decision making.
Ticket count trends generally follow user trends, and we see the most tickets issued during peak seasons and peak usage times.
While we enforce parking at all trailheads in Park City, the vast majority of parking violations occur at trailheads with access to the Bonanza Flat Conservation Area.