.jpg)
Draper City Park is a lovely park in Draper. It features your standard city park things. A playground, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, pavilions, etc. It also features a creek and is a good trailhead for a few trail options. They also do a wonderful job decorating it for the holidays. More than 3 million lights in fact. And of course, the centerpiece, the truly spectacular Tree of Light. AKA Tree of Life, I cannot seem to find which is correct as everywhere I look contradicts itself. Anyway, it was a wonderful add on for the day. We missed it last year. By the way, this is not the tree lighting ceremony, that was on the first. This is just a random weekend afterwards. But it was still fun to wander around and enjoy the lights.
Quick Details:
Length: As much as you like. We ended up doing about 3/4 of a mile.
Trail Type: Meander
Difficulty: DR3. It was wandering around a grassy field, with a few hills. There is a paved loop option as well which would be a DR2.
Elevation Gain: Between all of our wandering, we did about 100 feet.
Restroom: Yes.
Dogs? Yes, leashed. But it is super busy and some dogs might not do well with that.
Other Info:
To Get Here:
From i15 take the 123rd south exit in Draper, head east. Turn right on 13th east go through the roundabout and take the first right turn right afterwards (not the business, but Constitution Ave.). Then an immediate left for the Draper City Park. The trail starts on the east end of the parking lot, crossing back over 1300 east.
There are additional lots to the south and west.
Cute lights around the railroad underpass on 13th East (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).
The Adventure:
The North Pavilion.
I love that they did the lamp posts like candy canes.
The Tree of Light is absolutely living up to it’s name (well, the name that I am going with anyway). Holy crap is it bright.
More lights, and the cute little covered bridge. We’ll come back to that.
A little closer.
The Tree of Light again.
More lights. It’s so pretty!
Another little bridge and the Tree of Light.
Over Willow Creek.
The little covered bridge again.
More lights.
And the famous, Tree of Lights as I am choosing to go with today. But as I mentioned, some people also call it the Tree of Life. I think light fits it better, so that is what I am going with.
It is truly spectacular!
So, naturally it draws a crowd.
Whomever strings the lights on this tree has the patience of a saint! I mean, just WOW!
The covered bridge is so stinking cute with the lights.
The Tree of Light again.
The covered bridge.
Again.
From the back… or front… depending on how you look at it.
More colorful trees.
I was trying to patiently wait for the bridge to be clear of people, but it just was not happening at the moment. You would think other people here wanted to take pictures of with the lights.
The Tree of Light plus other trees. Look at the ring of light it spreads along the ground.
Closer.
Closer.
The covered bridge again.
They even decorated one of the baseball diamonds.
Closer.
More trees.
The Tree of Light again.
Hooray, I caught the bridge without any people.
Inside.
Willow Creek and some lights.
Upstream.
More lights.
.jpg)
Panoramic.
The Tree of Light again.
More lights.
The covered bridge again. Sorry, I am all over the place today.
The other little bridge.
The Tree of Light.
Draper sure goes above and beyond!
Fun with silhouettes.
Another little bridge. I like the blue.
On it.
Pretty blue tree.
Pretty red tree.
Pretty colors.
Some of the trees they just did the trunks.
Green, red, and blue.
The North Pavilion.
Candy cane lamp post.
A few more.
A veterans memorial.
More trees. I swear they decorated the park a lot more this year than they did last time we saw it.
The covered bridge again.
Trees.
Bridge.
Inside again.
I guess it is called Watson’s Crossing. I couldn’t find why.
Inside again.
Again.
The Tree of Light.
Again.
Being underneath is almost like being out in daylight.
.jpg)
Panoramic.
Now that we are close we can see the little light that give it that sparkle.
Looking up into the tree.
Warnings and rules.
Looking up again.
Big trunk, and electrical boxes.
Do not climb.
It is fantastic.
From a little further back.
Green and red.
Red and blue.
.jpg)
Panoramic.
Alright. I think I have had enough. Time to head back to the car.
One last look at the Tree of Light.
One of the little footbridges.
The covered bridge.
Pretty trees.
The little footbridge again.
Looking back towards the tree.
Trees and the covered bridge.
Closer.
The roundabout next to the park (PSP).
Lighted posts along 123rd South (PSP). I love how every city does something different for with them.
Well that was fun! I am glad we decided to come check it out today. It was a little busy, but not crazy. Draper really did a great job with it this year. Well, they do a great job every year, but they certainly went a bit extra this year. Parking was a little tight, but we found a spot without waiting too long. It was nice that it was fairly warm and dry, but a little snow would have made it a little more magical. Meh, 9 out of 10 squirrels.
As for difficulty, it is mostly wandering a grassy field, DR3. But they is a paved loop options that can see most of it. DR2.
Dogs are allowed, but must be leashed at all times.
