Pup-Stache sitting on a rocky trail on Mount Timpanogos with a sheer gray mountain face and green slopes behind him
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Pup-Stache at Primrose Overlook on Mount Timpanogos, about an hour from Park City. September 2022.
A Wandering Mustache Destination Guide · Park City, Utah

Hiking Boots or Ski Boots. Just Go.

A town first, a ski resort second, and Pup-Stache’s favorite place in Utah.

Park City does things differently from most big ski towns, and the reason is simple: it was a town first. A silver-mining town, in fact, long before anyone strapped on a pair of skis here. It was not purpose-built around a mountain. It has a Whole Foods. It has a Petco. It has outlets. People live here, shop here and walk their dogs here, and that changes everything about how a visit feels.

She-Stache and He-Stache in black winter jackets on a snowy sidewalk in Park City, with snow-covered aspens behind them
She-Stache and He-Stache, Park City, March 2017.

We love it in winter. We love it even more in October, when the high desert sun finally backs off and you can hike all afternoon without needing to towel off afterward.

This guide covers it all: the skiing, the hiking, and the one member of the family who has strong opinions about the off-leash parks. Allow us to introduce him again. His name is Buddha. His title is Pup-Stache. According to him, Park City's off-leash dog parks are the best in the world. He has been to a lot of dog parks. We are not going to argue.

Full Disclosure
Trip Date Many Visits, 2017–2026 · Style Skiers, hikers, dog people
Incentives Not a Penny · Photo Creds All Stache

Every link in this post goes straight to the vendor. No commission, on links or on reviews. Ever.

Trust us? Check out our Park City Wander Map.

*As always, no commissions from our links. We encourage booking early and direct. These maps are always a work in progress, and are curated from all past trips and current research.

These pins also power ai-tinerary, our invite-only itinerary tool. Same stamps, same opinions.

The Gripe

The Trails Above Main Street Are a Maze

We’ll do the bad first. We always do.

The trail network above Main Street is extensive, close to town and, in places, a genuine hazard. Bike-only, hiking-only, horse-only and mixed-use trails cross each other over and over, and the signs that should tell you which one you’re on are rare. Picture a mountain biker coming around a blind corner at speed and finding a family of five. Nobody wins that encounter.

Pup-Stache, a large cream doodle, licking She-Stache’s face as she sits on a wooden bench with a daypack and a view of green mountains behind them
Deer Valley, September 2022. The trails are better marked and the dog is very affectionate.

We’ve hiked out of the Daly Trailhead, Dawn's Trail, Treasure Hill Trailhead and PC Hill Trailhead trailheads, and they’re good hikes. Treasure Hill is a real climb and worth it in fall, when the aspens turn. But AllTrails does not always know which trail you’re on either, so don’t hand your navigation to the app. Learn your route before you start, and listen for bikes.

The trails up in Deer Valley are somewhat better marked, and often about five degrees cooler, which matters more than you’d think at 7,000 feet in August. From the Silver Lake Trailhead in Silver Lake Village you can wander for hours. The only flaw: the structures at the summit take a bite out of an otherwise excellent view.

The Skiing

Two Mountains, Two Philosophies

She-Stache and He-Stache in helmets and goggles taking a selfie on a groomed run, with the town below
Park City Mountain, February 2023. Somewhere on the map.

Park City Mountain is one of the largest ski resorts in North America: 7,300 skiable acres and 41 lifts, by its own count. It is so big you need a degree in orienteering to get from one side to the other. Grab a paper trail map. Then grab another one, because you’ll lose the first.

For those who want the luxury life (yes, please), Deer Valley is just up the hill and a world away. It is the closest thing to European skiing we have found in this country: the grooming, the food, the service, the general sense that someone has thought about your comfort. It is also exceptionally, unapologetically expensive.

And it is ski only. No snowboards. Sorry, not sorry. Yes, we are talking to you, snowboarder who iced She-Stache at Beaver Creek in 2022 and laughed after she fell. Jerk.

We love a good purpose-built ski resort as much as the next person. Bachelor Gulch, we’re looking at you. But a purpose-built resort holds you hostage: one village, one set of restaurants, one set of prices. Park City doesn’t. You can ski all day and then eat anywhere in town.

Après is not complicated. Silver Star Cafe has been our favorite for years: on the mountain, good food, and live music on show nights, which is when to go. For rentals and gear, Jans Mountain Outfitters is locally owned and does it well.

The Dog’s Section

Pup-Stache’s Park City

She-Stache in a straw hat, Pup-Stache and He-Stache squeezed into a selfie on a ridge above Deer Valley
All three Staches above Deer Valley, September 2022.

Almost every hike we’ve found around Park City is dog friendly. That is the headline, and it’s why the third Stache votes for this town every time.

Pup-Stache standing on the grass at Library Field next to a black and white Great Dane, with Park City’s hillside houses behind them
Library Field, September 2024. He found it himself.

Start with the off-leash parks. Run-a-Muk Off-Leash Area is a huge open space at the edge of town, and it’s excellent. Pup-Stache prefers Library Field, a smaller off-leash area a few blocks from Main Street. This is a dog who still walks into walls in the house he has lived in for 11.6 years. Put him anywhere on Main Street, though, and he will lead you straight to Library Field. He does, every chance he gets.

She-Stache sitting on a log by a mountain lake, hugging Pup-Stache, with her straw hat in her lap
She-Stache and Pup-Stache at Lake Lackawaxen, September 2022.

For hiking, Bonanza Flat Conservation Area is excellent and, by and large, dog friendly. Bloods Lake is the popular hike there, and the trail is dog friendly, but the lake itself is not: dogs have to stay at least 100 yards back, because it’s a drinking-water source. Keep going past Bloods Lake and you reach Lake Lackawaxen, which is quieter, and has been very dog friendly for us. It is also very moose friendly. Keep the dog close and give the moose all the room it wants. Rules up here have changed before, so read the signs at the trailhead.

She-Stache in a camel coat and He-Stache in a black jacket on a snowy Main Street walkway, with Pup-Stache in a knit sweater sitting between them
Main Street, December 2024. Pup-Stache dressed for it.

One rule people miss: past the top of Guardsman Pass, you’re in Salt Lake City’s protected watershed, and dogs are not allowed there at all. Not on the trail. Not in the car. That includes the drive down Big Cottonwood Canyon. Salt Lake City’s own brochure spells it out.

When it’s time to eat, the dog comes too. In our experience, every patio in Park City is dog friendly, and so are many of the stores. And Park City Transit now lets dogs ride the bus.

A mixed pack of dogs, Pup-Stache among them, playing and lounging under the trees at Library Field
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Social hour at Library Field. Pup-Stache is the white one in the middle of it.
An Hour East

The Uintas: Cooler, Greener, Much Higher

She-Stache in a straw hat and He-Stache in sunglasses taking a selfie in front of pine trees and rocky peaks in the Uintas
She-Stache and He-Stache, same hike, slightly more winded.

On days when the high desert feels like a sauna, the Uinta Mountains are the escape. They look nothing like the sagebrush and scrub around Park City: lakes, pine forest, wildflowers and real shade. Many of the trails are dog friendly.

Pup-Stache grinning in a sunny meadow in the Uinta Mountains with pine trees and two rocky peaks behind him
Pup-Stache in the Uintas, September 2023. Ten thousand feet and still smiling.

The catch is altitude. Some trailheads start around 10,000 feet. Bring more water than you think, go slower than you want to, and watch the dog for signs he’s had enough. You also need a recreation pass to park along the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway ($10 for three days when we last checked). Buy it before you lose cell service.

For a challenge, the Lofty Lake Loop is our favorite. Lofty Lake sits near 10,800 feet, and you will feel every one of them. For a relaxed walk, Mirror Lake is the easy, flat answer, and the dog doesn’t care which one you pick.

A blue alpine lake ringed by pine trees, with two rocky peaks and white clouds above, in the Uinta Mountains
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A lake on the Lofty Lake Loop, September 2023.
Day Trips

An Hour in Any Direction

Park City sits in the middle of a lot of good country. Within about an hour you can be at Jordanelle Reservoir, on Mount Timpanogos, at Sundance or on the shore of the Great Salt Lake at Great Salt Lake State Park.

Jordanelle is the closest and the easiest way to beat the heat. We rented a pontoon from Jordanelle Rentals & Marina on a hot day, and the rentals are dog friendly.

Pup-Stache sitting on the lap of a woman in a white sun shirt and visor on a pontoon boat, with the Jordanelle and dry hills behind them
Pup-Stache, first mate, on the Jordanelle.

Mount Timpanogos is where we go for views. Primrose Overlook is one of the best in the area, a rewarding hike, and dog friendly. The Aspen Grove Trailhead is a choose-your-own-adventure trailhead: Timpanogos Falls is the easy win, but try them all. Aspen Alley is another standout. We keep going back, five years running.

She-Stache in a black visor and He-Stache in sunglasses smiling on a green slope below the cliffs of Mount Timpanogos
Primrose Overlook again, September 2024.

Closer to town, Utah Olympic Park is a great family outing, with plenty to do, and a humbling look at what winter athletes put their bodies through. In summer it adds a ropes course.

For a rainy afternoon, or any afternoon, High West Distillery runs tours of its distillery in Wanship, a short drive north of Park City. The tour takes about 45 minutes and covers distilling, blending, aging and bottling. Tours run Wednesday through Sunday on the hour and fill up, so book ahead. Two catches: the tasting afterward costs extra, and you ride a shuttle up from the lower parking lot, so arrive 15 minutes early.

And when it’s time to leave, Salt Lake City International Airport is about 35 minutes away. As long as the canyon doesn’t close. Don’t ask. We still can’t talk about it.

She-Stache, He-Stache and Pup-Stache posing on a rocky trail with a deep glacial cirque and gray cliffs of Mount Timpanogos behind them
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All three Staches at Primrose Overlook, September 2023.
The green summer landing hills of the Olympic ski jumps at Utah Olympic Park under a blue sky with big clouds
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The Olympic ski jumps, July 2017. No, we did not.
Two of the Wee-Staches in helmets and harnesses balancing on the high ropes course at Utah Olympic Park, with green hills behind
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The Wee-Staches, feeling adventurous on the Utah Olympic Park ropes course, July 2017. We held the phone.
She-Stache, He-Stache and two friends in safety glasses standing in front of a tall copper still at High West’s distillery
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High West’s Wanship distillery, with friends and mandatory eyewear.
Day Trips

Fly Fishing: Mostly He-Stache’s Department

The rivers around Park City hold trout, and He-Stache has the photos to prove it. One of his spots is the Weber River below Rockport Reservoir, north of town near Wanship. She-Stache fishes too, but her real talent is at the vise: she’d rather tie the flies than cast them.

If you don’t know the water, go with a guide. Jans runs guided trips year round on the Provo and Weber rivers and on lakes and rivers in the Uintas: half days of four hours, or full days of eight hours with a basic lunch. The flaw: prices aren’t posted online, so call the fly shop before you plan around it.

He-Stache in waders and a sun hat standing in the Weber River below the Rockport Reservoir spillway, holding up a trout with a net in his other hand
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He-Stache on the Weber River below Rockport Reservoir, July 2017.
A fly line stretched across a clear, shallow river below red rock and green brush
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A cast on the river, July 2017.
He-Stache crouching in a mountain stream, holding a brown trout above a landing net
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He-Stache and a brown trout, same trip.
Golf

Public Courses, Fair Fees, One Exception

She-Stache in a white visor and He-Stache in sunglasses taking a selfie on a green fairway at Soldier Hollow with mountains behind them
Soldier Hollow, September 2023.

The golf here is better than it has any reason to be, and most of it is public, much of it over in the Heber Valley. Soldier Hollow Golf Course has two courses: Gold has more elevation change and more challenge, and Silver has the better views. Next door, Wasatch Mountain Golf Course offers two more 18-hole options in the state park, with reasonable greens fees, beautiful views and a few too many Asian lady beetles. Bring bug spray.

She-Stache and He-Stache on a tee box at Canyons Golf, with Canyons Village and construction cranes in the valley behind them
Canyons Golf, September 2022. Note the view of the construction.

In town, Park City Golf Club is a good local course with fair fees. Be warned that you’ll likely be paired with walkers, and plan your pace accordingly.

The exception: avoid Canyons Golf until they build a clubhouse and pave the cart paths.

Where We Stayed

Mid-Mountain for Skiing, Main Street for Summer

Black Bear Lodge

For a ski trip, we stayed at Black Bear Lodge in Silver Lake Village, mid-mountain at Deer Valley. Deer Valley lived up to every bit of the hype.

Marriott's Summit Watch vs. Marriott's MountainSide

We have stayed at both. Neither is dog friendly. Pup-Stache gets a pass because he is a task-trained service dog, not a pet, and pet policies don’t apply to service dogs. If your dog is a pet, plan around these two. In summer, Summit Watch wins, and it isn’t close: it sits at the bottom of Main Street, so dinner is a walk, not a drive. MountainSide is at the base of Park City Mountain, which is exactly where you want to be in ski season. In summer, the “village” around it is pretty sleepy.

Where We Ate

From Obscene to Budget Friendly

Main Street and every other neighborhood are full of restaurants, and despite all the tourists, many of them are good. Prices run from obscene, at Stein Eriksen Lodge, to budget friendly, at Luna's Kitchen. Stein is very proud of its food, with mixed results. The exception is Sunday brunch: excellent, every bit as expensive as the rest, and worth it. And few places have a better view for one drink and an appetizer after a Deer Valley hike. Luna’s is a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, which for She-Stache means she can eat without the three-question interrogation. Grab ready-made meals to go or sit outside with the dog.

Our 2026 standouts:

Also on our map and worth your time: Tupelo (biscuits, salmon, fried chicken), Handle (sit at the bar; skip the kale salad), Yuki Yama Sushi (order nigiri and sashimi, not rolls), Shabu (fair wine list; sit outside, because the dining room gets smoky), five5eeds (brunch; get the peaches in season), Sammy's Bistro, Deer Valley Café for breakfast, Bangkok Thai on Main (the best Thai in town, in a basement), Palomino for creative cocktails and popcorn, and The St. Regis Deer Valley up in Deer Valley at sunset, when they saber the champagne.

For coffee and lunch on the move: Atticus Coffee & Teahouse, Stacked Sandwich Co. for a trailhead picnic, Vessel Kitchen for something healthy to go, and Java Cow Coffee & Ice Cream for ice cream. Dolly's Bookstore isn’t food, but it has cats and allows dogs, so it belongs on any Main Street walk.

Two misses: Grappa has been mostly miss for the last couple of years, and Cena Ristorante reminded us of Chef Boyardee on a bad day. It has since been renovated. We haven’t been back.

The Fine Print

Drinking in Utah: Read the Rules, Then Read Them Again

Utah’s liquor laws are, and we say this with love, a lot. Here is what we’ve learned the hard way, checked against the actual state code, because we didn’t believe half of it either.

She-Stache in a white linen shirt raising a very small martini in a coupe glass on a sunlit patio
She-Stache and the world’s tiniest martini, Deer Valley, September 2022. One legal pour.
He-Stache, She-Stache and two friends smiling around a long live-edge tasting bar at High West, with their guide standing at the end
Continuing education at High West, with friends and a very patient guide.

And then there’s High West. Somehow, between the distillery tour and the saloon in Old Town, they pour entire tasting flights, seven little glasses at a time, and as far as we can tell the reason is that it counts as education. If that’s the case, we have a PhD.

One last rule, and it isn’t a joke: Utah’s DUI limit is 0.05, the lowest in the country. The buses are free. Take one.

A row of seven High West tasting glasses of whiskey on printed tasting mats along a wooden bar
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The coursework. High West, Old Town, October 2025.
Getting Around

Leave the Car Parked

Park City Transit is the best small-town transit system we’ve used, and it’s completely free. It has been fare free since 1975. The free Main Street Trolley will even carry you up the hill to dinner.

Bike lanes and multi-use paths loop the whole valley: out from Old Town to Kimball Junction and all the way around, back to Old Town along Kearns Boulevard. There is an excellent bike share network, too: Summit Bike Share runs an all-electric fleet of about 200 e-bikes at 26 stations around town and the Snyderville Basin, rented by the hour through its app. Pedego Electric Bikes Park City rents e-bikes if your legs aren’t ready for the altitude yet. In summer there’s something on offer for every ability level.

Before you leave, spend an hour at the Park City Museum. It’s small, and it packs the whole history of Park City, mining town to ski town, into a compact footprint. It’s the best explanation of why this place feels the way it does.

The Hard Reality

A Real Town With Real Mountains

Park City is not cheap, the trail signs are a mess, and if your canyon closes on the way to the airport, you will have feelings about it for years. We go back anyway, winter and fall, and we’ll keep going back. It’s a real town with real mountains on three sides and a dog who knows exactly where the off-leash parks are.

Pack the leash. Learn the trail before you hike it. Ski Deer Valley once. Eat at the bar at Courchevel. Buy the kitchen a drink.

The Links

We Wouldn’t Send You Somewhere We Wouldn’t Go

No kick-backs for links. Ever.