All the Gold, A lot of Snow, and the Quest for Donuts
My last trip was the 2nd annual City Cat trip. To those of you that are not aware of what City Cat is let me quick break it down for you. Once a year, I travel with two great friends of mine Mike and Dirk. We had previously gone on a trip to Atlanta together (which we now call the launch party) in 2015, and had a blast. Shortly after that we were at a bar discussing future trips, and I am not sure how it came about, but we decided for future trips we should make it a surprise trip. So long story short, one person plans the trip and the other two do not find out where they are going until arriving at the airport. If you want to know more details about how it all works, shoot me an email or something. And if you are wondering why the hell we call it City Cat, email me as well, and we can discuss. Anyways so here marks our 2nd annual city cat trip to Salt Lake City, planed by Mike. I have always wanted to head to SLC, so I was very excited to head there with the boys.
After our horribly bumpy flight, we landed in SLC. I always knew the mountains were right in the background of the city, but when you first pull out of the airport and physically see it, pictures just don’t do that view justice. It just looks like the mountains are going to topple over SLC. The first two nights we stayed right in downtown SLC. I thought the downtown area was pretty awesome, it felt like a large Madison (even thought the population is only like 190k). The church of Latter-Day Saints was very prevalent in the city. Our Airbnb was near the Salt Lake Temple, which has some amazing architecture. I am not sure how to explain the prevalence of the LDS in the city, but it was very obvious that a lot of people we encountered were LDS and a lot of the old architecture was derived from the LDS, which was cool.
The first night we made it a night out in SLC. We made a rule that we are not allowed to Google things while we are out and about. If we had a question about something or wanted to find the next place to go, we were to ask people where to go and how to get there, which was awesome as the night offered us a variety of experiences; meeting fellow Wisconsinites, find local taverns, and a group of girls showing us dick pics (I know super weird, and not needed but that’s what happens when you don’t use the google). We visited multiple breweries (don’t get me started on their weird laws about beer), explored the local dive bars, and eventually made our way to a cool spot of the city on Main St, where we spent the rest of the night at Proper Brewing and Tinwell. Two places I highly suggest visiting, and probably the only two bars we felt right at home at.
The next morning we left the city and drove out to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Straight up one of the most unique places I have witnessed. Everyone was just in an awe of the place (I think). One HUGE suggestion; you will know when you are in the Salt Flats, and when you are feel free to pull off anywhere on the side of the highway. Don’t pull into the straight into the flats as you will be stuck in certain spots, but there is a large shoulder that you can pull off to view the flats. We didn’t realize this was possible until we were towards the end of the flats. The salt flats change many different times as you drive through. There are some areas that are glossed over with the smallest amount of water, which make for amazing reflections. There are a few areas with a few inches of water, and then there are sections with completely dried up salt flats (the part we spent most of out time at). Seriously, this is a must do when visiting SLC. It will take a half a day or so, but it is completely worth it. I would love to go back and explore more. Towards the end of the Salt Flats near Wendover and the Salt Flats Speedway, there are some smaller mountain ranges you can explore as well, which will offer a very unique view from above of the Salt Flats. The ride back to SLC was about 1 ½ hours. Dirk was in and out of consciousness and the rest of the ride consisted of Mike and I contemplating all the spots we wanted to pull off the road and take pictures, but never did. We did eventually find our way off a random highway exit and it led us to Stansbury Island where we found an abandon fence in the Slat Lake looking at the Wasatch Mountains. We were very lucky to pull into this random spot and get some epic pictures. The night ended early when we got back to SLC. We found a bar that a lot of people suggested, but it sucked, and just made all of us more tired, so we decided to head in early, as we were getting up early the next day to hike.
The next day we headed out to Big Cottonwood Canyon to hike to a cool waterfall Mike found during his research of the Salt Lake area. The road to the trailhead was still closed due to snow, so we walked up about an extra mile or so to the Donut Falls trail head. Prior to our trip I was convinced that we were not going anywhere with snow, little did I know we would be doing about 4-5 mile round trip hike through 3 feet of snow. That is one thing I truly appreciate about the city cat trips. When you are not planning it, your mind goes wild of places that you think you are going, I went through multiple places in my head, never thought once about hiking through the snowy mountains in Utah. Sure enough, the day after we find out where we are going, it turns out to be an amazing trek through the deep snow. HUGE TIP; if you are interested in seeing Donut Falls you either have to go in the summer when you can walk up the river bed. or be well prepared for winter snow and getting through giant snowdrifts throughout the riverbed. We just did not have the right equipment to trek through and were not able to reach the donut falls. The hike was still incredible, but I hope to one day get there and see the amazing waterfall. After the hike we continued to drive through Cottonwood Canyon, then found our way to Rocky’s Mouth Falls, a small little waterfall that, oddly, starts in the middle of a subdivision. It is a very easy hike (about .9 miles) with a rewarding little waterfall at the end. If you are in the Cottonwood Canyon area I would suggest checking it out.
Later that day we stayed the night in Park City. Park city is only about a half hour or so from SLC, so getting out of the city and into the mountains is very easy. The slops were still open, but we were not prepared to snowboard or ski, so we drank instead. There were not a lot of people in Park City as we were within the last days of the open ski season. That night we ventured around in the mountains as park city is in the valley and the view of the city up in the mountains is amazing.
Unfortunately, the next day we had to leave. We had a late flight out so did some quick ventures. First we stopped at the Olympic Park to see the bobsled track and high jump. To see a bobsled track up close was unbelievable, when watching it on tv it is hard to put the track in perspective of how long the tracks are and how crazy each turn is. You are able to ride yourself in the winter months for $185, so save your pennies. We then scurried over to Antelope Island State Park, to check it out quick before we needed to make our flight. Another great tip; please spend a whole day at Antelope Island. We were there for about an hour, and saw so much. We got to close to some buffalo, saw some antelope grazing in the distance, and traveled up the mountain to look over the salt lake and SLC. It is an amazing park filled with scenic views and many different species, a day could easily spent here.
So there ends the 2nd annual City Cat trip. It was an amazing time filled with a lot of drinking, adventures, stupid jokes, uncle Jimmy from S-Town, and a lot of laughs. The countdown to City Cat 3 begins.
