Gear up for National Trails Day with volunteer events on June 7

Celebrate National Trails Day in Park City. Photo: Kevin Cody // TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah – Park City’s trail system includes over 400 miles of continuous, non-motorized recreational trails. On June 7, the community is invited to celebrate National Trails Day by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on the trails they know and love. 

As the weather warms up, trail crews have been working to prepare the Park City trails for summer use. On May 30, Basin Recreation announced that the ground is almost completely dry on the Basin side, with a few lingering snow patches on north-facing parts of Mid Mountain and Pinecone. “We’re working through the downed trees as quick and safe as we can. There’s a lot out there and it was a fast dry out this year,” they noted on social media.

Basin Recreation will hold an event from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the RTS trail system and Run-A-Muk off-leash dog area. Volunteers will help to remove overgrowth from sides of trails, grade trail surfaces, and improve trail drainage. Register to volunteer. 

The Mountain Trails Foundation also provided a trails update on May 30. Their crew has been completing drainage and downed tree clearing on multiple trails, including CMG, the White Fir trail, and Ponderosa trail. They noted that they are also focusing on clearing downed trees, as the snow melted “extra fast” this year.

The Mountain Trails Crew is inviting volunteers to join them in preparing trails for the summer season. New this year, there will be two locations where volunteers can serve. One group will work on improving the Elk’s trails, and in Empire Canyon a smaller crew will work on building a new hiking trail. “Both projects will benefit the entire system and offer lots of productive and engaging work for volunteers!” writes Mountain Trails. Volunteer check-in will begin at 8 a.m. and crews will work until lunch at 12:30 p.m. Register to volunteer.