Layton, UT Outdoor Activities

The surfer was getting dangerously close to the crest. It was a huge wave, spanning 34 feet, but the last thing he wanted was to bail in front of his friends. Leaning into the water and weaving side to side, he kept his balance for just a few moments longer before tumbling onto the soft mats and safe bail area of the Flowrider. He'd be ready for the real thing come summer. This is just one of the adventures that await thrill-seekers-in-training at the Salomon Center. Away from the Flowrider's manmade surf, top-rope belay systems cradle climbers as they scale iRock's craggy, gray peaks. Incorporating holds that change monthly, these indoor climbing walls shoot upwards to heights of 55 feet. Alternatively, bouldering areas stay closer to the ground and exchange ropes for padded surfaces. Meanwhile, iFLY exchanges footholds for a column of high-speed, shooting air, which elevates would-be fliers to simulate the feeling of skydiving or being kicked out of a moving UFO.

When Utah High Adventure's staff members head into work, they don't sip coffee during meetings or ride the elevator up to an office on the ninth floor. Instead, they crash through raging whitewater rapids and rappel down the sides of canyons against a backdrop of sun-soaked red rocks. Years of training and education have earned them the certification and expertise to lead other thrill-seekers on rock climbs, which is more satisfying than scaling the granite backsplash of a neighbor's fancy kitchen. They also guide mountain-bike rides across Utah's rippling alpine trails. During the spring, summer, and fall months, the company hosts weeklong tours into the wild, which include lodging and equipment.

Mountains echo with the clicking of hooves on rocks as mountain vegetation waves in the breeze and the sun glistens on snow-dappled trails. Schools of fish scatter as a pair of slick rubber boots parts the waters—a fisher wading through thick river sediment before casting a line into the current. Rocky Mountain Outfitters' experienced outdoorsmen usher customers through all manner of seasonal wilderness adventures, including fly-fishing on the Provo River, snowmobile tours, and horseback riding along mountain trails. Many tours run through Soldier Hollow Valley, which played host to the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Visitors may encounter roving wildlife such as snow rabbits, moose, and fawns frolicking through varied landscapes for memorable photo ops or police sketch-artist renderings. Adventure packages combine more than one outdoor activity and include the Reins and Train adventure, a role-playing tour that merges a train trip with a horseback trail ride. Depending on the season, guests can board traditional wagons or horse-drawn sleighs towed by teams of clydesdales, belgians, and spotted draft, or they can lasso free-range dinner rolls during Old West–style outdoor meals.

Park City was founded as a mining town, filled with miners that purportedly drank, gambled, frequented brothels, and committed crimes. Park City Ghost Tours’ guides delve into this illicit history during 70-minute walking tours. They investigate the sites most known for hauntings and chills while relaying the harrowing history of each. Tours begin nightly at 8 p.m., when the sun is thoroughly below the horizon and it gets harder to tell the difference between a zombie and a parking meter.

The paranormal investigators at Grimm Ghost Tours get up close and personal with Salt Lake City’s most infamous specters during their bone-chilling ghost tours. On these tours—which helped them win the A-List Award for Best City Tour in 2012—they guide guests toward local haunts while sharing the city’s grisly past in true tales of murder, mystery, and violence. Groups may leave the city limits behind during the Outer Reaches tour, shuffling off to the unimaginably dark corners that were once Ted Bundy’s hunting grounds. Guides also tell the tainted history of other spooky local sites, sending chills down the spines of guests who explore old Fort Douglas, the Hancock mansion, and the haunted scotch bottles of the Premiere Gentile Gentlemen’s Club. All of Grimm’s paranormal jaunts combine aspects of a bus and walking tour, quickly shuttling those with a morbid curiosity from one site to the next.

For participants looking for a more intense paranormal experience, Grimm Ghost Tours offers ghost hunts at a haunted site, during which they teach guests the techniques and mortal perils of the ghost-hunting business. Once the sun sets, the brave guests join their tour guides as they use specialized equipment to scour their destination for clues and signs of life after death.

Native Americans first discovered the naturally warm waters of Crystal Hot Springs during their wintry travels through the Wasatch Mountain ranges. Sheltering that first wave of travelers, the hot springs later soothed the muscles of weary workers of the transcontinental railroad before being incorporated as a business in 1901. Separate hot and cold springs share space some 50 feet from each other, cooling or warming sinews and allowing visitors to immerse themselves in naturally high mineral content. Guests can also take refuge in more than 100 available camping sites and sample the fast and furious dips of the slide park. The aquatic expanse is open seven days a week over both the winter and summer, cooling down visitors during sweltering August days or warming them up after a January footrace against a yeti.