The Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) is one of Utah’s most important regional trails. Proximity to the populous Salt Lake Valley makes it especially valuable but has also made it difficult to find connections and alignments along the foothills that are free of private property entanglements. Trails Utah has worked closely with a private developer who agreed in 2019 to donate approximately 290 acres of property, just to the north of the mouth of Parley’s Canyon, to Salt Lake City as open space so that it might host a new section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
The new section of BST at Parley’s Pointe, now complete, includes a half mile of community access trails, one extending off of Benchmark Drive, another off of Scenic Drive, and two connections to the paved BST below. A new loop trail at the south end of the trail makes use of existing historic road grades and extends around into the mouth of the canyon before climbing up and heading north several hundred feet above existing homes. After gaining in elevation the trail then contours northward for almost three miles, following the gentle undulations of ridges and hollows before exiting at the public access point near the H Rock open space area.
This project was supported by the East Bench Community Council, the Bonneville Shoreline Committee, and Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands. The Salt Lake City Trails & Natural Lands department has taken ownership of it and is responsible for its management and maintenance, along with the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Coalition and Trails Utah.
