Switzerland in Utah

Heber Valley is a quieter alternative to glitzy Park City

By Julian Smith

> Trying the summer biathlon
> Water sports and mountain trails
> Hot springs and scuba

It's easy to see why 19th-century Swiss settlers were drawn to the Heber Valley, 45 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. With rich farmland on either side of the Provo River, and surrounded by the soaring Wasatch and Uinta mountain ranges, the valley evokes the Alps as much as any place in America.

It's a quiet, pastoral alternative to nearby Park City, famed for its three ski resorts and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival. Heber Valley enjoys the same legendary snow in the winter and just as much to do in the summer, but there's not a celebrity in sight.

The Heber Valley Historic Railroad chugs through some of the most eye-catching scenery in northern Utah. Climb aboard a restored 1920s coach car in Heber City, the county seat, and listen for the 1907 engine to fire up and start the journey. The entire trip, around Deer Creek Reservoir and down rugged Provo Canyon, takes about three and a half hours both ways, so it's perfect for a half-day escape. Make sure to get a spot in one of the open-air cars when you enter the canyon and keep an eye out for elk and bald eagles.

Trying the summer biathlon

On the western side of the valley, Wasatch Mountain State Park has two of the state's best golf courses, along with campgrounds and a network of trails for hiking and horseback riding. The park also encompasses Soldier Hollow, where the cross-country skiing and biathlon events of the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held. Since then, the facility has become Utah's most popular Olympic-themed tourist destination.

In the winter, visitors enjoy a snow-tubing hill and cross-country ski trails, but in the summer you can still test your aim at the warm-weather version of biathlon. It's the same sport as the cold-weather version, complete with precision rifle shooting, except with running or biking in the place of cross-country skiing from target to target.

After circling the track, participants try to hit tiny targets using the same rifles that were shot during the 2002 Paralympic Games. The idea is to keep your heart rate down, since the faster it beats, the harder it is to hold the rifle steady.

Rent a mountain bike and helmet to tackle one of Soldier Hollow's many marked trails, or book a two-hour horseback ride to the Crow's Nest for great views of the corrugated pyramid of 11,749-foot Mt. Timpanogos, the second-highest peak in the Wasatch Range.

If you happen to visit over Labor Day weekend and love dogs, you're in luck. The Soldier Hollow Classic brings the world's top sheepdogs and trainers to compete for sheep-herding prizes. Kelpies, border collies, German shepherds and other breeds also round up ducks in a separate competition, a kids' favorite. In the Splash Dogs Dock Jumping Championship, the goal is to leap as far as possible from a dock into a 40-foot pool. That same weekend brings Midway's annual Swiss Days celebration, with yodeling, bell-ringing, traditional alpine music, crafts and a parade.

Water sports and mountain trails

South of Soldier Hollow you'll find Deer Creek Reservoir in a state park of the same name. This artificial lake boasts some of the best year-round fly fishing in Utah. With dependable breezes and relatively warm waters, it's also a favorite local spot for windsurfing and sailing. Boats and kayaks are available for rent. More swimming, boating and camping can be found at the reservoir in Jordanelle State Park at the northern end of the valley. Fish for smallmouth bass and cutthroat or rainbow trout, and take the Perimeter Trail to reach the 28-mile Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail, a non-motorized path that connects to Park City.

For more hiking, biking and backpacking, the mountains around Heber Valley have too many trails to count. Choose from short and easy morning rides to multi-day treks over and around the peaks in every direction. Luckily there's an office and information center for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache Natonal Forest in Heber City. Stop by for maps and advice on which trails are best at different times of the year.

Hot springs and scuba in Midway

A quarter the size of Heber City, the town of Midway packs a lot into a small package, starting with the Swiss architectural flourishes on many of the town buildings. Every upscale dining and lodging option in town offers superb mountain views, starting with the Homestead Resort, a country-style hot springs getaway that drew its first buggy-load of visitors in 1886. Today there's an Aveda Concept Spa, and stables where you can book a horseback tour into the hills, passing pioneer cabins and Ute Indian hunting camps.

At the center of the resort stands what looks like a 50-foot-high volcano. The Crater is actually a hollow limestone formation half-filled with warm mineral water. Enter through the tunnel drilled into one side to reach a rough-walled space filled with steam. A small opening at the top lights a large natural pool of blue water, creating an eerily lovely glow. Take a swim and keep an eye out for bubbles coming up from below: the 55-foot-deep pool is the only warm-water scuba destination in the continental USA, and students are usually learning the underwater ropes down deep. Just across the street is Zermatt Resort, probably the most Alpine experience in this little slice of Switzerland. The 18-acre "village" centers on a luxury hotel filled with European touches: German wood carvings, Austrian chandeliers and Swiss stained glass. The rooms combine folk art and tapestries with wireless Internet. For dining, guests can choose from Schneitter's Restaurant or Bäckerei & Eis, a deli with fresh pastries and gelato. Head outside to find an authentic Suisse Carousel, geothermal springs and an oversized chess set ready for a match.

The candlelit restaurant at the Blue Boar Inn has won just about every dining award in the country for dishes that combine organic ingredients with herbs fresh from the garden. The inn itself is a romantic, European-style chateau with a very Old World-Alpine ambience, complete with wrought iron balconies and turrets. Antique crossbows, mounted boar heads and chandeliers made from moose antlers are just a few of the interior touches. Each of the Blue Boar Inn's 12 guest rooms has a fireplace and a bubbling bathtub, and is named after a famous author, from Dickens to Chaucer. (Shakespeare, of course, is a luxury suite.) Stop by Truffle Hollow downstairs for a drink at the bar, which was hand-carved in France in the 16th century.

If all this isn't enough, there's always Park City, 15 minutes north, for high-end restaurants and Hollywood-in-the-mountains glitz. All three of its ski resorts—Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley and The Canyons—are open in the summer, and so are many of the spas, shops and restaurants. Lodging is usually less expensive at this time of year.

Take a lift or gondola to the top of a 9,000-foot peak just for the views, or plan a hike or mountain bike ride down spiderwebbing trails. (The lifts and gondolas carry mountain bikes instead of skis in the summer.) Park City Mountain Resort also offers an alpine slide, zipline, trampolines and a maze.

If that's not enough, book a sailplane or hot-air balloon ride in Park City itself—and be sure to request an aerial view of Heber Valley.

Julian Smith is a writer and photographer based in Portland, Oregon.



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