Amphitheater Park

 Amphitheater Park is a cute little park next to the Sandy Amphitheater in Sandy. It features your standard park amenities: a pavilion, fields, playground, as well as an interactive water feature and it even has a nice view! I didn’t know this was here until coming to the amphitheater today.

Quick Details:

Length: About 3/10ths of a mile. With longer options.
Trail Type: Loop
Difficulty: DR2 it is flat and paved.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Yes
Dogs? No. Big Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: It shares parking lots with the Amphitheater and they fill up to overflowing when there is a concert. So it might not be very fun.

To Get Here:

Take i15 to the 90th South exit heading east. Go about 3.3 miles, after the road curves to the right, then back left becoming 94th South, look for the entrance on the left. There is also an additional parking lot accessed above off of 13th East.

The Trail:

Park name on a granite boulder. I love how Sandy likes to use granite for park signs.

The first thing that caught our eyes was this splash pad. Or as the sign says, Interactive Water Feature.

Downstream.

It has a fountain representing each of the main Seven Creeks. Sadly the lettering is quite faded. But I could make out enough to know that’s what it is.

City Creek and Red Butte.

Emigration and Parley’s

Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood, and Little Cottonwood.

It reminds me of the fountain in Liberty Park.

Downstream again.

Little boulders. I would love to see this thing flowing, but I imagine when it is flowing it is crawling with kids.

There are a bunch of granite slabs with drill holes.

Little side fountains.

Drill holes.

Granite benches with drill marks. These look exactly like the benches we just saw the the Bell Canyon Preservation Trailhead Nature Trail Last week.

I am certain these are newly cut, but it looks a lot like the historical way they quarried the granite. You can learn more about that at the Temple Quarry Trail.

The bottom.

With a fountain of some sort.

Sun shades.

We always say this when we see things like this, but man, kids are so lucky now. We had nothing like this when we were kids.

I love all of the granite.

The Fountain People Inc.

Playground.

The splash pad again.

The pavilion.

Fun clouds.

You can see The Claw from here.

Nice view of the valley. I kind of wish we had stuck around for sunset.

Not so much from this bench.

The Valley.

Antelope Island.

Panoramic.

Another view.

The Claw again.

Snow covered mountains. They got a good dusting with last nights storm.

Open field to play in.

Almost sunset.

The food trucks that brought us out. I guess they do food trucks every Monday during the warmer months.

Again.

Mountains.

Meh, kind of a sunset (PSP). Maybe I am glad we didn’t wait it out.

That is a fun little park! I particularly like the Interactive Water Feature, and the views. Considering there was an event happening tonight, it was surprisingly empty. I guess everybody just wanted food and music haha. But I mean, that is what brought us out tonight too. 9 out of 10 squirrels, losing one because I am sure it sucks when there is a concert at the amphitheater next door.

As for difficulty, it is a paved loop, and pretty flat. DR2. Some of the longer options might bump that up though.

Leashed dogs are allowed in city parks, unless otherwise stated. They are not allowed in the Amphitheater though.

Sandy Amphitheater

 Sandy Amphitheater is a large amphitheater in well, Sandy. It is an active amphitheater that regularly hosts summer concerts, comedy shows, plays, etc. It is a fairly new amphitheater opening in the summer of 1999. I have been wanting to check it out for a minute, but so far nothing really caught my attention. Well, today they decided to do a Free Jazz in the Park and Food Truck Night. So I figured, heck, food trucks and a show, plus I can check out the venue.

Quick Details:

Length: Depends on how much you explore.
Trail Type: Meander
Difficulty: DR2. It is paved and easy.
Elevation Gain: Depends on where you park, but not a lot.
Restroom: Yes.
Dogs? No.
Other Info: This is usually a fee area. This is the first free concert I have seen, however, looking through the upcoming events it looks like they have 2 more free nights coming up. Fun. We might come back.

To Get Here:

Take i15 to the 90th South exit heading east. Go about 3.3 miles, after the road curves to the right, then back left becoming 94th South, look for the entrance on the left. 1245 E 9400 S, Sandy, UT 84094

There is also an additional parking lot accessed above off of 13th East.

Last nights storm brought a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Adventure:

We have driven past when summer concerts have been going, and parking looks like an absolute nightmare! But, it was not super busy tonight, and it was come and go as you like so it was not as bad as we feared it might be.

Well, first things first, we wanted food. There where only about 6 or so trucks tonight. Smoke a Billy’s BBQ caught our noses, and thus our business. It was really good! A little pricey (what isn’t these days?), but we shared a 2 meat plate and both had enough to eat so I guess not too bad.

Entering the Amphitheater.

It is a way bigger stage than either of us expected! Wow!

It was a little more chilly than expected too, so we opted for the far east side that was still in the sun.

Concessions and restrooms on the east side of the stage.

Panoramic.

The next band setting up. For a free concert it wasn't very crowded.

We showed up just in time to see the one band that wasn’t a high school band, Odyssey Big Band.

I am not a big Jazz fan but I don't mind it either. So it was fun! Plus I really liked having a seat to enjoy my meal.

Unfortunately, wanting to be in the sun means having the sun in our eyes.

For the 2nd song they added a singer.

Closer.

After we finished eating we decided to explore a little bit. Here is the back concessions area.

The side of the amphitheater.

From about the center.

The left side.

Closer. Well, it isn’t super crowded, but I still don’t want to be a distraction so I didn’t wander too much. But I do with I had wandered to the top.

Main sign.

Box Office. I wonder if it is still ever used, since most ticket sales are online now.

The food trucks that brought us out. I guess they do food trucks every Monday during the warmer months. But, they do not always have a concert to go with it.

That was fun! Just what I thought, dinner with some free entertainment. Plus I got to explore the amphitheater a bit. 10 out of 10 squirrels for food with entertainment, and free!

As for difficulty, it is paved, and is accessible DR2.

Dogs are not allowed in the amphitheater.