Hiking PC Hill

For all the times I have visited Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, I had yet to go hiking here. Of course, Park City usually has feet and feet of snow so hiking is difficult during January but driving up from Salt Lake City revealed a lot less snow than usual and I put on my thinking cap and scouted out a great little hike right near where I was staying.

PC Hill is easily accessible from Park City's middle school by walking over the snow-encrusted soccer fields. The walking was really uneven and my knee was feeling a little tight so I took it easy so I would't get wiped out on a relatively flat field!

The day was absolutely beautiful, no wind, crisp cool air, the moon popping up to say hi...

Finally you get to the trailhead which was right near where the town recycled their Christmas trees. There was never a better smelling dump ever!

The trailhead was well marked but also was cause for concern because there was much more snow and ice on the trail then I was expecting.

As I got further up the trail, the snow thinned out a bit so I decided to keep plugging. Of course, when you get closer to the ridge line, the snow becomes more apparent and making footing more treacherous.

Once you do gain the ridge, the top o da hill become apparent and you only have a few more switchbacks to go.

The trail up the final portion of the hill was a little difficult to follow. There were footprints and snow guiding you along obvious paths but then there were other paths going in different and more intriguing directions. It is pretty clear there are switchbacks and cut-throughs but discerning which was which was difficult. However, you knew what direction you were going, up!

Eventually I got to the top and the beauty of the Park City Mountains surrounded me.

I soaked in the views for awhile and then slowly but surely made my way down the mountain. Icy trails sure are easier to climb up than down!

I have been meaning to check out more Utah hikes (especially the National Parks and the Uinta Mountains) and this was a good first step. The hike is pretty easy, ok elevation gain, should take you 45 minutes to an hour to do a round trip on it but if you are in Park City, definitely check this out!