Utah State Capitol: Philo T Farnsworth Promenade

The Utah State Capitol in Downtown Salt Lake City is a neat old building that has some pretty grounds to explore. It features history, nice city and mountain views, beautifully landscaped grounds and this time of year, cherry blossoms line the entire Philo T Farnsworth Promenade. Huh, I wonder when that got renamed, it used to be the Memorial Pathway, at least it was last time we were here. Anyway, it is a nice loop around The Capitol grounds.

Quick Details:

Length: The loop is about 3/4 of a mile.
Trail Type: Loop.
Difficulty: DR2.
Elevation Gain:  
Restroom: There are restrooms inside The Capitol as long as it is open.
Dogs? Yes, leashed (outside only).
Other Info:

To Get Here:

From Downtown SLC take State Street north until you reach The Capitol.

The mountains as we make our way downtown (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Neat old water tower (PSP). We don’t have a lot of water towers in this style in the valley. 

Downtown (PSP). With the current tallest building in SLC, the Astra Tower (left) at 451 feet.

More downtown (PSP).

The Astra Tower (PSP).

95 State Street or Tower 8 (PSP). Currently the 4th tallest building in SLC at 395 feet, And the Keybank Tower to the left The 7th tallest at 351 feet.

Neat old building (PSP). I was pretty sure this was the old Hansen Planetarium building, but it looks a little different. But I was able to confirm it is.

Originally built in 1904 as the Salt Lake City Public Library, the building was renovated in 1965 to become the Hansen Planetarium. After the planetarium closed and was replaced by the Clark Planetarium in 2003, the building was remodeled into the O.C. Tanner Company Flagship jewelry store, which opened in 2009.

As we get closer to the Capitol the traffic is getting more and more snarled (PSP) Ruh roh, did we make a mistake today?

The 2 sequoia trees you can see in City Creek Park (PSP).

The climb up Capitol Hill (PSP).

The Trail:

We parked directly above Memory Grove which is at the mouth of City Creek Canyon, just below The Capitol.

The Capitol. It is very, very busy today. Holy crap. I think it is even busier than it was last time we tried it. There was just no way of getting any shots without random people in it, so I just gave up on that idea.

The Utah State Capitol. At 285 feet it is currently the 17th tallest building in Salt Lake City.

Protip, the main Visitor Entrance is here on the east side.

We decided to go to the right, or counter-clockwise.

The cherry blossoms. I think we hit prime better last year, but it's still pretty.

More cherries.

Blossoms, The Capitol rotunda, and the East Senate Building.

Cherry blossoms and lots and lots of people. Holy crap.

But every once in a while the crowd thins a bit.

The new Museum of Utah is coming along nicely. It appears to be set to open in 2026.

What do we have here? I believe those are redwood trees.

Getting closer to the redwood trees. After our random redwood trees in Utah scavenger hunt we did recently, I am getting pretty good at recognizing them from afar, and I am finding them in all sorts of random spaces that were not on my list.

More cherry blossoms as we reach the north end of the loop.

Some other kind of flowering tree on the outside.

More cherry blossoms.

The suspected redwood trees again. Unfortunately with the ongoing construction I couldn’t get close enough to confirm, but I am fairly confidant.

I had to speed walk for a second, but I managed to get a shot without people! Wewt!

2 seconds later, people. Well, it was a nice 2 seconds while it lasted haha.

The West House Building.

Ope, here we go, another redwood. This one is a not as tall as the others.

The distinctive needles.

Looking up.

The bollards have the Utah beehive logo on them. Fun.

I think this is still the East House Building.

More cherry blossoms.

Another tree caught my eye.

Yep, another redwood.

Distinctive needles.

Getting close to the trunk.

The west side of The Capitol.

More cherry blossoms.

The Capitol again.

Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos Veterans Memorial.

Cherry blossoms.

Another lull in the crowd. Yay.

The Capitol.

Cherry blossoms.

The Capitol.

Nearing the “front” or south side of The Capitol.

State of Utah sign.

We decided that we should go inside. It’s been a while since we have done that.

That ran longer than I anticipated, so I made it a separate post.

State of Utah sign.

More cherry blossoms.

With the Capitol.

I think this is another redwood.

Monument.

Cherry blossoms.

With The Capitol.

Again.

Closer view of the cherry blossoms.

The east side.

Statue of Massassoit.

Additional statues.

Well, that was a walk. But holy cow, was it super, super crowded! Is this a thing, hanging out at your local State Capitol, or is it just a Utah thing? The cherry blossoms were nice today, but I think we timed it better last year, as the blossoms were starting to fade. I like the trail, and the cherry blossoms, and views, but the crowd was a lot today. so I am going with 6 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, the main loop is paved, DR2.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. So long as you stay outside. They are not allowed inside The Capitol or any other state buildings.