Silver Lake Visitor Center

 

 

 

 

 

Programs

Temple Quarry Historical Program

"Working the Quarry"
Visit the historian Paul Smith, and travel back in time. Experience the challenge of splitting, shaping, and transporting huge, 30-ton granite boulders by hand. Visitors will enjoy this program, learn about history, and see how the LDS Temple was constructed.

Temple Quarry Nature Trail
The parking area for this trail is on Little Cottonwood Road (approx. 9400 South) just west of the large electrical sign at the entrance to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Take the short trail from the south side of the Temple Quarry parking lot near the bathroom, and follow it to the left. Meet at the Temple Quarry Amphitheater benches. This program is sponsored by the Latter Day Saints Education System and the US Forest Service.

Silver Lake Information Center

• The Silver Lake Visitor Center will not be open for the 2020 summer operational season in an effort to minimize potential transmission of the COVID-19 virus and to prioritize the health and safety of visitors and staff.
• USDA Guidance for the Operation of Recreation Services Sites dated March 19, 2020 orders visitor centers to remain closed due to their design and intent to draw large numbers of people into one space.
• The nature of the visitor center and its displays is to encourage hands on interaction with public infrastructure and features. Adequately disinfecting such surfaces and features during a pandemic isn’t plausible.
• This closure is only for the duration of the 2020 summer season. The District intends to have the site fully functional in the 2021 operating season if current conditions permit.
• The Silver Lake boardwalk trail, fishing and hiking access will remain open to the public with the advisement that they maintain recommended social distancing.
• The external restrooms will remain open to the public and be cleaned as regularly as possible.
• Forest Service Interpretive Rangers and FPOs will maintain a presence in the area to address resource protection concerns and have limited informational interactions with the public while prioritizing social distancing for visitor and staff health and safety.
• It is unlikely the visitor center will open in the 2020 season if all restrictions are lifted due to the extensive collaboration required for set up and staffing.

Silver Lake is nestled up Big Cottonwood Canyon near Brighton. The Silver Lake area has an accessible boardwalk with interpretive signs around a beautiful natural lake. Enjoy this unique area of the Uinta-Wasatach-Cache National Forest as well as learn about the environment.

Discover Your Forest Program

Discover Your Forest (formally Ski with the Ranger or Ski Naturalist Program) is an interpretive program that takes place on the ski slopes! The participating resorts include Brighton, Solitude, Solitude Nordic Center, Alta and Snowbird. Visitors meet with a Forest Host Volunteer and ski down an easy-intermediate run with about five stops along the way. At each stop, visitors will learn about a different topic including natural history (geology), history of the resort, human history, wildlife, trees, watershed, and snow information. Each program varies because each volunteer is responsible for their own program. Programs run once a day on weekends and holidays starting around the end of December and continuing through March.