Where to Yurt
Photography: Courtesy of Sun Valley Trekking
The closest yurt options for Park City skiers are four yurts in the Uinta Mountains, with trailheads less than an hour’s drive to the east, or the Big Water yurt in Millcreek Canyon, accessible from the Salt Lake Valley.
In the Uinta Mountains, Park City’s White Pine Touring, (435.649.8710, whitepinetouring.com), operates the Castle Peak Yurt, which accesses fantastic ski terrain. White Pine offers guide service to the yurt and can also provide snowmobile porter service.
The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) (yurt@nordicutah.com) owns and operates the Norway Flats Yurt, a great option for novice skiers or families with plenty of terrain to keep experts happy.
The Granite School District, (801.646.4668, granitepeaks.org), owns and operates the Mill Hollow Yurt.
The fourth Uinta yurt, Boulder Creek, primarily serves programs of the Norwegian Outdoor Exploration Center, (435.649.5322), but can be rented on a space-available basis.
Though it’s located just over the ridge from The Canyons Resort, access to the trailhead for the Big Water Yurt is through Millcreek Canyon from the Salt Lake Valley. Reservations are through Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, (801.483.5473). This is another great option for groups of differing abilities.
If you don’t mind a longer drive to start out, you can find yurts spread out from Logan Canyon in the north to the La Sal and Tusher mountains in southern Utah. Just north of the border, Idaho’s Sun Valley Trekking operates six yurts in the Sawtooth and Boulder mountain ranges (svtrek.com). There is no single reservation system for Utah yurts, but yurtsofutah.com, a Web site compiled by local outdoor writer Lori Lee, is a great source of information.
Your comments may be edited for brevity and foul language.