Hidden Hollow - Sugarhouse, Utah

Hidden Hollow Trail - Sugarhouse - SLC, Utah
Sugarhouse is one of our families favorite places to go in the Salt Lake City area. This neighborhood and shopping area has a unique kind of hipster character to it and it is full of all of the stores, shops and restaurants that we frequent such as Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Whole Foods, frozen yogurt, theatres, and craft shops. The Sprauge Library branch of the Salt Lake County Library system is also tucked into this shopping area. People unfamiliar with Salt Lake City are probably thinking "Sugarhouse? what the heck does that reference?" Well back in the day in 1854 to be exact, Mormon Pioneers built a mill at the corner of what is now 2100 South and 1100 East (Where Barnes & Noble now sits). This mill was built to process sugar beets and extract sugar from them because sugar was a very scarce commodity that had to be hauled to the Great Basin over the Oregon Trail back in the 1800s. Parley's creek provided the energy to turn the mill's water wheel but the endeavor  turned out to be a failed enterprise and was eventually turned into a paper mill and then a machine shop for the railroad. What most visitors to Sugarhouse don't know is that there is a nice little nature trail in a place called "Hidden Hollow" only steps from the Whole Foods parking lot. Parley's Creek is the central feature of Hidden Hollow and its banks are shaded by an urban forest of Fremont Cottonwood, Peach Leaf Willow, Big Tooth Maple and Box Elder. An interpretive trail passes through this forest along both sides of the creek and it is connected by a pair of nice wooden foot / bike path bridges. Next to the creek proper in a few areas you will find willows, cat tails and bull rushes and on one hillside slope there are trees and shrubs indicitive of a Pinyon-Juniper ecosystem such as Pinyon Pine, Utah Juniper, Rabbitbrush, Big Sagebrush and Indian Rice Grass. All kinds of small birds including sparrows, meadowlarks and blackbirds frequent this tiny forest oaisis. At night large moths and bats rule the dark woods in summer time. Along the trails there are benches here and there for a quiet moment of reflection along the creek. There are cast iron art works such as the one pictured above and interpretive panels that explain the trees, plants, ecosystems and history of the area in more detail. It is an easy thing to add a walk along Parley's Creek through the hollow while you are visiting any of the shops in the Sugarhouse area. The trail also provides access from this area to the much larger Sugarhouse Park and Highland Highschool Campus via a tunnel that passes under the very busy 1300 East Street. Sugarhouse Park has a wonderful scenic road that is great for jogging, bike riding and the views of the mighty Wasatch Mountains around the pond where hundreds of ducks, Canadien Geese and seagulls congregate are stunning. On our last trip to Sugarhouse as my girls were lost in the craft store, I stumbled upon Hidden Hollow and was quite pleased that I did. We had been coming to this area for years and I didn't even know it was there. I walked up the south side of Parley's creek from the large parking lot near Whole Foods, under 1300 East to Sugarhouse Park. Along the way I marveled at the golden leaves that carpeted the ground and the autumn color that still remained on the trees. The creek was quite low and in collected still ponds the reflection of the brilliant fall leaves was a beautiful sight. I took my time, learning all I could from the well done panels that explain the ecosystem and provided much of the information for this article. The entire little adventure only took me about a half an hour but it was so nice to be able to enjoy nature in the middle of the city. Hidden Hollow is a great example of how natural areas can be preserved and even integrated into urban environments to provide habitat for animals and enjoyment for the population. If you visit Sugarhouse, plan for an extra 15-45 min and enjoy a walk through Hidden Hollow. For more information and a map visit the Sugarhouse Community Council webpage at http://www.sugarhousecouncil.com/index.php/hidden-hollow-nature-area                 JD Jessop

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