Park City purchased Bonanza Flat through a $38 million bond in 2017, and established a conservation easement on the property through Utah Open Lands in 2020.
Since then, the beautiful natural playground nestled between Park City, Midway, and Big Cottonwood Canyon has become the area’s worst kept secret.
The Park City Council received an update about the state of Bonanza Flat Thursday.
Park City Trail Ranger Billy Kurek presented location-based cell phone data that showed a majority of trips to the area lasted less than 30 minutes.
“They’re driving through, maybe they’re taking a few photos, and then they’re moving on,” Kurek said. “So the people getting out to hike, to use the trails, it’s still a very substantial number of people. But we’re dealing with different types of user conflicts and user challenges, and this kind of harkens to the parking enforcement piece that we deal with and grapple with on the ground.”
Kurek said Bonanza Flat and Bloods Lake account for around 90% of the tickets rangers hand out during the year.
“A question I get all the time is, ‘how much is the ticket?’” he said.
Parking in a no-parking zone in Bonanza Flat costs $200, while unauthorized parking in an ADA spot is $300.
Kurek said trail rangers don’t have the authority to remove cars waiting for a parking spot, only police. He said sometimes people take his advice and check out other nearby sites that are less busy.
The city banned parking along the “Y” intersection of Guardsman Pass Road and Pine Canyon Drive this summer, and has worked to prohibit on-street parking in recent years amid safety concerns. A cyclist was killed on Pine Canyon Drive last week, after colliding with a tour bus.
There are a total of 175 parking spots in Bonanza Flat between multiple trailheads. Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher said there aren’t plans to add more, an effort to conserve the area.
Pictures presented to the council showed the Bloods Lake trailhead is consistently full throughout the summer at various times, while parking at the Bonanza Flat trailhead a mile away remains open with plenty of spots. Fisher said fees or parking reservations may be necessary to shift behavior.
“It’s not about paid parking,” Fisher said. “What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to protect the resource. If that’s the goal, that’s what we need to have in mind as we look at these different solutions.”
Ideas thrown out Thursday include a parking reservation system, day use fees, and hiking permits. Utah Open Lands also plans to explore a permit option for local, 84060 residents, versus nonlocal users.
Kurek, the trail ranger, also presented data showing Parkites represented just 7% of visits to Bonanza Flat this summer.
“Salt Lake City is by far the greatest user group who is in Bonanza Flat,” Kurek said. “It goes to show that not only is this a proximate location to Salt Lake and Park City, but that it’s kind of become a premier and understood area for the greater Utah community for fall leaf peeping, and for other outdoor recreation activities. So it’s heavily used, it’s heavily loved.”
Utah Open Lands and the city’s trails department plan to return to the council with recommendations for Bonanza Flat at a later date.
