No More Dirtbag Life: Mountain Trails Foundation Finds Home

After years of couch-surfing, Mountain Trails found a home off N. Highland Drive. Photo: TownLift // Bailey Edelstein

PARK CITY, Utah. — Since it was founded in 1992, Mountain Trails Foundation has never had a place to call home—until now. The new location is a 10,000 square-foot warehouse that sits atop two acres of land near the Highland Drive Trailhead; it’s the perfect amount of space to store all the vehicles and machinery the non-profit owns.

“When I started [in 2010] we were working out of our homes and the Miner’s Hospital in the city, and we had three storage lockers in Wanship. We were spread out everywhere,” said Charlie Sturgis, Executive Director of Mountain Trails Foundation. “You really didn’t know where stuff was. You had to go looking.”

Securing this base of operation was the culmination of a five-year-long process and a step in the right direction for running efficiently and effectively. According to Sturgis, the foundation was able to move into this location thanks to the generosity of the landowner, but sights are set on buying the property and offsetting costs with a roommate of sorts.

“If we can find a partner that wants to be in the building to help pay the rent or mortgage, that would be a huge advantage,” Sturgis said. “…We have the unique opportunity to own this building and go from there.”

Mountain Trails has never paid more than $3,000 a year in building and housing expenses, with the goal of keeping donations allocated to trail work.

“I want your donations to go into trail world, not the building world,” Sturgis said.

That goal remains, even now that Mountain Trails has a larger property to maintain, as the foundation is working on plans to use fundraising dollars from a capital campaign to pay for any building expenses.

Make a donation to support Mountain Trails Foundation here.