Sugar House Parks

Could the weather get any nicer for a walk?  I think not.  So yesterday I took advantage of a sunny fall day and set out on a three-park walk.  Here's my route:

1. Start at Sugar House Park, one of Salt Lake's largest and most popular parks. Located in one of Salt Lake's oldest neighborhoods on the site of the old state prison, the park offers 110.5 acres of rolling green space. Accessed on the north side, the park is sandwiched between I-80 and 2100 S, 1300 E and 1700 E. The inner park road (a little over a mile) is a popular track for walkers, runners, cyclists, and cross-country ski trainers. This morning I ran the outer loop, a 2.2-mile path worn in the grass. No cars, no lights-- for sure one of my favorite running routes. There are also several playgrounds, covered pavilions and a popular sledding hill in winter.



2. Less than half a mile west is another park, nestled between the Sugar House Commons shopping center and 2100 S. Hidden Hollow, an aptly named set of walkways, wooden boardwalks, benches, trees and bushes stretches over a cool marshy area along Parley's Creek.

Along the trail, you'll discover giant cast-bronze sugar beets symbolizing the area's history and the character of the community. During pioneer times, a sugar mill was built near the intersection of 2100 S and 1100 E, but never produced more than unrefined molasses. The factory wheel was powered by water from Parley's Creek. Sugar was never actually made here, but the neighborhood adopted the name Sugar House in reference to the mill.

3. Stop in and pick up a book at the quaint Sprague Library with its perennial garden landscape, then walk down the street less than five minutes toward Fairmont Park. Easily accessed from Sugarmont Drive, it is two blocks south of 2100 South, off of 900 East. The park is shaded by many mature trees, and offers sand volleyball courts, playgrounds (for all abilities), picnic tables, an outdoor lighted skatepark, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, soccer fields, a softball field, a duck pond (hangout of ducks and geese year-round), and is home to the Fairmont Aquatic Center.

Top off your three park day with a large peach glacier at Millie's on 2092 S, 1000 E, then catch a "dollar movie" at Cinemark Movies 10 (local favorites).