A roughly seven-mile loop featuring 24 historic sites will open with a ribbon cutting during Park City’s Miners Day Sept. 7.
The route starts at the Park City Museum, snakes up Sweeney’s Switchbacks to the Silver King Complex, down through Empire Canyon, then finishes back on Main Street.
The trail is a multi-year initiative by the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History to expand public understanding of the town’s past, said the group’s co-chair Colleen Logan.
“Our silver mining heritage is who we are,” Logan said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Sept. 3. “And that’s, you know, been the entire foundation of Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History is to preserve our heritage, so that we don’t become just another resort town. It is what makes us distinct.”
Hikers will download a free map that plays GPS-triggered audio narratives at each site.
Logan said the audio captures many perspectives of silver mining.
“We have a professional narrator for our audio guide,” Logan said. “But we also have an incredible number of experts on the friends of Ski Mountain mining history, who are mining engineers, mining experts, geologists, paleontologists, local history experts.”
Fellow co-chair Don Roll said funding the roughly $220,000 project was a collaborative effort.
“Over 90% of the cost of the trail, of implementing the trail and marketing the trail has been covered by grants, and it’s state grants, federal grants, county grants, local grants,” Roll said. “So, it’s been a true Utah-wide effort to bring this to reality.”
The trail includes a ten-mile variation for bikers. Those looking for a less strenuous option can take either the Town Lift or Payday Express straight to the Silver King Mine Complex.
The path also includes 11 new interpretive signs with historic photos and descriptions of the sites.
