Washington Square

 Washington Square is a nice little park surrounding the City-County Building. We generally come here during Utah Arts Festival, Pride, or other random neat events. Today though, we were on a mission to find random redwood trees. I discovered we have quite a few in the city. Aside from the very cool building, the square offers some nice grounds with a lot of nice trees, so it is worth checking out randomly.

Quick Details:

Length: About a half mile loop.
Trail Type: Loop
Difficulty: Flat, paved. DR2.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No. Closest one I am aware of is at the Salt Lake Library. If it not open though, you will need to find a gas station.
Dogs? Dogs are allowed in most Salt Lake City park, on leash, unless otherwise stated. So I think they are good here.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From i15 take exit 306 for 6th South, head east to State Street, turn left go one black and start looking for parking. It is easiest to go around the block clockwise to look for parking (best parking options on the east side). If you are just after the trees, they are on the south side, so you might want to look there.

The Trail:

First view of the City-County Building on the east side. I am particularly fond of this building, I think it is pretty.

Normally the pride flag only flies here during Pride, but this is Salt Lakes Cities response to the Legislatures unconstitutional bill to try and silence us.

Better view of the building with less trees.

This old building was built between 1891 and 1894 by free masons. the building served many purposes, including being the temporary State Capitol building between when statehood was granted in 1896, to when The State Capitol was completed in 1915. It is now used for mostly Salt Lake City government business.

There are a lot of trees for a park downtown.

The building again.

It, like most of our old buildings is supposedly haunted. Among other apparitions are 2 children, believed the be 2 children that died while playing in the site while the building was being constructed. People have heard laughing children, singing, footsteps, typing when no one is there, as well as being touched as well.

At some point a paranormal investigation was allowed in the building. The devices paranormal investigators use to help spirits speak apparently went nuts. You can see more about there on this KSL article (outside link).

Again.

As far as I know, it is a public building and you are allowed inside when it is open, I just don't think we've ever been here when it is open. But one day I would like to explore inside.

I noticed this from the road and decided we needed to come see it. while this is absolutely not a redwood tree, we did see a similar redwood called Corkscrew Tree in The Redwoods.

Although this one appears to be several trees twisted around each other.

One of the two fountains here on the west side.

I think I spotted our Easter egg across the way. We will make our way over there shortly.

The City-County Building again.

The west face.

It is the 23rd tallest building in Salt Lake City at 239 feet. It is only 5 floors, but the clock tower adds some height. 

Neat gargoyles.

Statues on top.

Building and flags. I recognize the new Utah State Flag on the left. But not the one on the right. I assumed Salt Lake City, but that doesn’t look right. Maybe it is just faded.

The American Flag at the Salt Lake District Court on the other side of State Street.

The other fountain on the west side. A little more south.

The almost perfectly cone shaped tree we are after. 

We found another one that was not as happy looking.

It has the unique, rough needles.

Approaching the perfect shaped sequoia. Both trees are on the southwest part of the park.

Squirrel!

They have obviously been fed as they approach pretty closely.

This one has a very distinct red trunk. 

Vertical panoramic. I seem to recall having to resort to that a lot in the actual Redwoods.

You know, it is funny. I am certain we have walked right by this tree at least once, probably many times and never thought there was anything special about it. It really is neat when you start to pay more attention to things.

Squirrel.

They can be pretty dang cute.

The tree again. It is a nice specimen.

Vertical panoramic again. I read that there are three sequoia trees here, and we only found two of them. Meh, might have to come back.

The City-County Building again.

The south face.

Again.

Portrait.

The southeast corner.

Meh, my panoramic option didn’t quite capture it how I would have liked, plus its a bit faded, but this appears to be left over art from Black History Month.

The east face.

Gargoyles.

Statues on top.

Portrait.

Flags and the east face again, with the lights just lighting up on the clock tower.

If I had planned my day a little bit better the next place we would have/should have stopped is the Little America Hotel, just a block to the south. However we were rapidly losing light so I decided we would do one last stop that only had a singular tree. 

I caught the lights on the top of the clock tower on our way home from our last adventure of the day (PSP).

Well, it was kind of fun wandering around the square without a million people milling about. I mean, there were still people, but not a million of them. Plus seeing a few redwood trees really made it neat! 7 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, we crossed the lawn a few times, but there is a paved loop around the park and it is flat. DR2.

It is not specified here really, but I believe dogs are allowed in most Salt Lake City parks, leashed. Unless otherwise stated.