SALT LAKE CITY — A Draper hiking trail that was closed by a wildfire will soon reopen.
According to Draper City Trails and Open Space Manager Greg Hilvig, a section of the Bonneville Shoreline trail was closed after a request by firefighters working to clean up after a wildfire.
“They’re doing some mop-up work … and then they’ll just monitor it for a day or two. They just ask that we close it during that time,” Hilvig said.
Only a short section of the Draper hiking trail is closed, between the west junction of Ann’s Trail and Steep Mountain access, as noted in a Facebook post by the city’s trails department. They hope to reopen it by Thursday and said they will post updates on social media.
“It’s kind of towards the outer edge of our trail system. So it shouldn’t impact many trail users at all,” Hilvig said. “So, maybe a quarter mile of trail … and there [are] easy ways to go use other trails and not really have it affect you.”
Draper hiking trail closures aren’t uncommon
This isn’t the only short-term Draper hiking trail closure. Hilvig said Rush Trail was closed for maintenance last week.
Cassandra Wight, front, and Alya Hopkins ride e-bikes down the Rush trail in Draper’s Corner Canyon on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Laura Seitz/Deseret News)
“The majority of them have been some of our downhill mountain biking trails,” Hilvig said. “We close them because we go in with excavators and equipment to rebuild some of the features. So we have to close them for a couple of weeks at this time.”
Since it’s been so dry recently, Hilvig said workers had to carry water onto Rush Trail.
“The Rush Trail is primarily made out of clay [that] is really dusty and so by watering it in it helps bind all of that dust and dirt together so it forms a much better berm that’s nice and firm as opposed to being really loose and dusty,” Hilvig said.
“And so they … pour a lot of water onto it to help pack it in … almost like when you’re making a sandcastle. You get the really wet sand and you pack it in a bucket. We’re kind of doing the same thing on this, but … we’ve built the berm and shaped it, [then] by adding the water, it helps pack in the dirt harder so it lasts longer and it’s a more rideable surface,” he said.
According to Hilvig, Draper owns nearly 150 miles of hiking trails and about 5,000 acres of open space.
“We have everything from paved trails, natural surface trails, hiking only trails, biking only trails, multi-use trails. We’ve got a little bit of everything.”
Information about Draper hiking trail closures and conditions is available on the Trails and Open Space website.
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