I visited the park the other day as it is easy to get to from where I live; no complicated directions and best, it is free. Lovely, well manicured grounds, and still a few lovely large lilies in hot colors for my camera to eat up. Got my feet wet in the large pond, first time this year I’ve done that, and I was right near Lake Huron till last month. There were quite a few gulls and pigeons, as well as a few ducks, but that is all….. my first view from the road of the pond gave the impression there may be swans, but they were the gulls on the water. SO. Take your pic of the bird images, all pretty much the same and if you slow down or stop your car, they think they are getting treats and run on over, just like at the Thomas Edison Parkway back in Port Huron. The huge mountain in one of the images with the clouds on it’s top is Mount Olympus, least that’s what the sign said.
Here is a bit about the park from http://www.sugarhousepark.org
Sugar House Park, considered a “crown jewel” among regional parks in the Salt Lake Valley, comprises 110.5 acres of lush, rolling green space, located on the site of the old State Prison in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake City. It is bordered by 1300 East on the west, by 2100 South on the north, by 1700 East on the east, and by I-80 on the south. There are two entrances for vehicular traffic off of 2100 South, at 1400 East and 1500 East.
Though known for its verdant vistas, which are enhanced by a large pond in the western part of the park, Sugar House Park also offers many options for those interested in more than just a lovely walk. Among the park’s features for public use are: seven pavilions for group gatherings (see Reservations for more information); regulation soccer and baseball fields; a large, cement basketball court donated by the Utah Jazz; two children’s play areas, with plastic play sets; a small amphitheater with seating for 220 people; seven volleyball courts (one at each pavillion), and a sleigh-riding hill.
In addition, the park road, which winds around the park for 1.38 miles, has a 16-foot-wide inside lane which has proven popular among walkers, runners, bicyclists, and cross-country ski trainers. The distance around the full perimeter of the park (including around Highland High School) is approximately 1.9 miles.
http://www.sugarhousepark.org/contact/
The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the summer, and from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the winter.
PARK HISTORY
For nearly a century, the current site of beautiful Sugar House Park was, incongruously, the grim site of the Utah State Prison. The federal government operated the penitentiary until Utah statehood in 1896, when the prison was then granted to the State of Utah.
By the middle of the 20th Century, state officials had finalized plans to move the prison to a new site at the Point of the Mountain, thus igniting discussion of what to do with the old prison site. Sugar House businessman Horace Sorensen lobbied for a decade to have the site converted into a state park, and that seemed to be the site’s destiny when the Legislature passed a statute in 1947 setting aside the “old prison site” as a state park….
Under the leadership of Harold Fabian, who was president of the Park Authority for its first 18 years, the park developed gradually over its first decade under a plan developed by Denver landscape architect Jack Harenburg. Many of the existing structures, such as the restrooms and some of the terraces, were completed in the early to mid-1960s. Subsequent Park Authority boards have endeavored to preserve the pristine nature of the park over the years since.
