Park Benchmark

Overview

Park Moutain is a small peak located along the Park City Ridge in the. Although by far not the tallest in the area, it does boast some amazing Central Wasatch Mountains views without having a strenous hike involved. Park Mountain lies about. It lays roughly .60 miles away from Bald Mountain, the Deer Valley Resort's highest lift served peak. In addition to hiking Park Mountain, one should also consider hiking Bald Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain, Jupiter Hill, or Jupiter Peak. This would make for a nice hike, however, it might just be easier to hike Bald and Park Moutain together because of their close proiximity to each other. You decide.

Views from the top include views of Park City, Deer Valley Resort, Midway, Mount Timpanogos, the Uinta's and much more.

Getting There

There are a few ways to get to this mountain.

Route 1:

-From Park City to "Hwy 224 Pass"- Head southeast on Park Ave/UT-224 toward Lame Dog. Merge onto UT-248. Turn left at Deer Valley Dr/UT-224.At the traffic circle, take the 1st exit onto Marsac Ave/UT-224 Continue to follow UT-224. Turn left at Marsac Ave/UT-224. Turn left to stay on Marsac Ave/UT-224 Continue to follow UT-224. From here, you will reach a pass. Turnoff here.

-Midway to "Hwy 224 Pass"- Head north out of Midway onto Hwy 224 and proceed to travel until you reach a "Hwy 224 Pass". There will be a turnout here where you can park.

Route 2: From Park City to Deer Valley Resort- Head southeast on Park Ave/UT-224 toward Lame Dog. Turn left at Deer Valley Dr/UT-224. At the traffic circle, take the 1st exit onto Marsac Ave/UT-224 Continue to follow UT-224. Turn left at Guardsman Connection. Turn right at Royal St W. Park at the parking lot out front of Deer Valley Resort.

Routes

Route 1 starts at "Hwy 224 Pass". From here, Park Mountain is about 2 miles East. This route involves first hiking up to Flagstaff Mountain. Once atop Flagstaff, you can pick and choose your route. When looking East, you will see Bald Mountain (with all the summit hardware) on the left and Park Mountain on the right. Simply pick your route and start hiking.

Route 2 starts at Deer Valley Resort. There are two trails leading to Bald Moutain: The Ontario Trail and the Silver Lakes Trail. Both of these trails are maintained by Deer Valley Resort and are around 2.5 miles one way (to Bald Moutain). Both trails come up upon the south side of Bald Moutain. From here, Park Moutain is about .50 miles away. Choose and pick your route from here. This route is good from hiking both Bald and Park Mountains.

Red Tape

If your going to hike this peak from Deer Valley Resort, a lift pass would probably be necessary during the winter months. In the summer access is unlimited from the route and you can actually get a free lift down the summit.

From anyother direction, you might have issues driving in the winter becuase most of the other roads won't be plowed.

There is LOTS of private property around and be sure to stay off or if you have to pass thru someone lands, try to spend as little time on it as possible.

All in all, this is a better summer hike versus a winter one.

Click here for additional information.

No dogs are allowed in this area either. The reason being is that much of this area serves as a watershed to the Weber River.

History and FAQ's

This part of the Waasatch was famous for its silver minning. Most of the minning activities began in the early 1850's when Mormon settlers discovered it just in the hills behind Park City. As of today, there are still plenty of old and abandoned mineshafts that dot the area. Park City was founded in 1872 as a minning town. Over the years, this town has changed from a small silver minning town into a world reknown ski resort city. Aside from silver, lead and zinc were also minned from these mountains.

Interestingly, during this minning era, many of the evergreen trees were logged and much of the area was left barren by this. However, in the early 1900's, a restoration project was funded and many of the trees were restored.

Also, this area was considered prime hunting and trapping land by the native Ute Indians, trappers, and Mormon settlers.

Mountain Biking

Also this area recieves lots of mountain bike actvitity. Lots of trails provide oportunity for premier cross country, downhill and just plan mountain biking. During the summer, you will most likely see them out and about on the surrounding trails, so be aware of that. For more information about the local mountain biking, click HERE.

External Links

Utah Avalanche Center

Avalanche Center

Wasatch-Cache National Forest

Misc

If you have any additional information/pictures for this peak please tell me and I will add them or you can just post them.

Images

View Park Benchmark Image Gallery - 12 Images