Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

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Opposite, left: Technicolor wildflower carpets—bursting with Splitleaf Indian paintbrush,
Wasatch penstemon, and Nuttall’s Linanthus—are a common mid-summer sight in the canyons
and drainages located just east of Salt Lake City.
Opposite, right: Tree species common to the Wasatch Mountains include ponderosa pine,
Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, quaking aspen, and Gambel oak.
Above: While not the Wasatch Mountains’ tallest peak, Mount Olympus is one of the most
prominent and recognizable landmarks seen from the Salt Lake Valley.
In the last several decades, however, the role the Wasatch Mountains play in Utah’s thriving population
has evolved well beyond exclusively watershed. Ask any transplant—or any native who’s stayed put—why
they have chosen Salt Lake City as home, and the mountains are likely at the top of their list. And it’s no
wonder. Within just a thirty-minute drive of downtown is hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness
spanning 10,000-foot peaks, alpine meadows and lush old-growth forests. Though it’s a part of the larger
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, four designated wilderness areas—Mount Olympus, Twin Peaks, Lone
Peak and Deseret Peak—dominate the backcountry most immediately accessible to the Salt Lake Valley.
Recreation opportunities found here include skiing and snowboarding at four resorts within 15 miles of Salt
Lake City: Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude. Park City’s three ski and snowboard resorts—Park City
Mountain Resort, Deer Valley and Canyons—are located 35 miles east of Salt Lake City along Interstate 80.
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