Utah is located in the northeastern USA and is remarkable for the most amazing natural panoramas. The southern part of the state features many national parks, reserves, canyons, while the northern one – snow-covered mountain peaks. Here, not only a lot of different attractions, but also the cleanest air – that’s why Utah is among the top ecological-friendly states.
Salt Lake City is the administrative state capital, and many green areas are concentrated around it, including gardens, parks, and protected natural areas. All these places are public, that is, every traveler has the opportunity to explore them with a guided tour or by using a rental car. If you’re accustomed to traveling in your own pace, Dollar car rental at SLC airport offers a large selection of deals at an affordable price. Thus, you won’t have to search for the right transport to visit the following places located near Salt Lake City…
Liberty Park
With the area of 32 hectares, Liberty Park is a huge green space in the center of Salt Lake City. It has is a pond with two islands, and Tracy Aviary. Also, the old mill of Isaac Chase is in the park. Both the mill and the park itself are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
In addition, Liberty Park has playgrounds, snack kiosks, a shooting gallery, picnic areas, large green lawns, a swimming pool, basketball and volleyball courts, a jogging track and several slides. In short, the park has everything you need for a fun day off, and it’s very popular among roller skaters, cyclists and skaters.
The park was founded in 1881 after purchasing Brigham Young’s land. The park was designed according to the example of Central Park in New York and is still considered to be the best sample of the Central Park in Utah. Plus, there are several iconic historic structures can be found in Liberty Park.
Antelope Island
This beautiful ecological zone is included into Utah National Parks system. Antelope Island is ready to welcome visitors 365 days per year and offers to admire a wide selection of wild animals, especially American bison.
The park was formed in 1969. It’s the home to the largest population of buffalo in the United States. Among other animals in the park, you can find bighorn sheep, black-tailed deer, various waterfowl, gray-haired antelopes, coyotes, red lynx, porcupines, badgers, and much more.
Also this area is famous for the diversity of species of both nesting and migratory birds. The abundance of meadows on the island provides good conditions for American curlews, owls, partridges and various birds of prey. This fact attracts a large number of black-necked toadstools, bluegrass and Californian gulls.
This place is popular because of its beaches with clean white sand, and also due to the very salty water making it easy to swim in the water. Antelope Island can be reached by boat or by car via the dam.
In addition, Antelope Island has a convenient boat station where you can rent a boat for a short period or for the whole season. Nearby, there’s a campsite and a nice beach where a snack bar is open in summer.
International Peace Gardens
This botanical garden is located on the territory of Jordan Park. It was founded in 1939, but work on its creation was interrupted by World War II and continued only in 1947. The garden was open to the public in 1952. Since then, thousands of travelers from around the world have visited it. The garden was organized by the Salt Lake Council of Women.
Each national group living in Utah received its own plot in this garden, where it could create a garden with plants and structures typical of their homeland. Thus, by now almost 30 small gardens can be admired in the International Peace Gardens, which makes walking along it exceptionally pleasant. The total garden area covers about 11 acres on the banks of the Jordan River.
Sugarhouse Park
Sugarhouse Park is located between 1300 E and 1700 E streets, and between 2100 S street and I-80 highway. The large park, which covers 110 acres, has a small pond, volleyball and football fields, a basketball court, picnic areas, sloping grassy hills and a magnificent garden. It may be surprising, but the park occupies the territory formerly belonged to Utah prison.
This place is especially popular among runners and walkers who train on its alleys and paths. Every year on the 4th of July, the grandiose fireworks take place there, so expect traffic jams when approaching to the park if you decide to visit it on this day.
Canyonlands Park
What is Canyonlands Park in Utah? Its vast, uninhabited semi-desert territory is located at the confluence of the Green River and Colorado River, carved by deep canyons. For many millions of years, these two rivers and their small tributaries created a lot of colorful amazing geological formations on the rocky Colorado plateau.
It is here, next to the Arches Park, you’ll find Canyonlands – one of the most interesting national parks in terms of studying the geology. The park is a collection of works of nature and consists of three individual parts – Island in the Sky, The Maze and The Needles. Each of them is separated from the other parts by a deep canyon and is distinguished by its unique topography and sights.
A detailed inspection of the park can take several days, as each of its parts has many interesting places, observation platforms and trails, and it’s rather difficult to move around the park due to the lack of roads for quick getting from one part of the park to another.
You must be logged in to post a comment.