Anchor Trees opened the week of Oct. 6 with a chainsaw, not a ribbon. A crew cut through a downed log while hikers who had gathered at the old Daly West mine headframe beside Montage Deer Valley waited to make the first climb. Less than three weeks on, Deer Valley's Mountain Report lists it under Empire as "Closed for Season."
That short first season tells you how the high ground above the Montage works. Public access to upper Empire Pass is protected in writing. The calendar decides when you can use it, and the closures come in a fairly fixed order. Over the next six weeks that order runs through the bus, the parking lots, the pass road and the ski resort. On the other side of it sits something new for winter.
What three years of hand work added to the map
Anchor Trees is a hiker-only climb that starts where the upper Mid Mountain switchbacks pass under the Empire Express cables. It ends near the Bloods Lake trailhead. Lora Anthony, executive director of Mountain Trails Foundation, described that starting point to KPCW. The trail ties Park City's trail system directly into Bonanza Flat, and from there routes continue into the Cottonwood Canyons on the Wasatch Front.
The length depends on who is measuring. The Park Record reported one mile with 800 feet of elevation gain. KPCW gave 1.5 miles. Either way the grade is steep. The trail is rated a moderate "blue," with high stone steps set into the slope, and it climbs through aspens and pines at eye level.
The whole trail was cut by hand, with switchbacks and retaining walls where the slope demanded them. Volunteer crews worked on it for two years. Mountain Trails then brought in its professional crew this summer to finish the technical sections. Anthony explained the reason for a dedicated hiking route to the Park Record: "We find that when strategically placed, professionally designed trails are in place, illegal social trails are less likely to develop."
Why public access up here is written down
Three organizations share the trail. Deer Valley owns the land, Summit Land Conservancy holds the conservation easement over it, and Mountain Trails Foundation built it. That easement, the Empire Easement, dates to 2000 and was the first easement ever granted to Summit Land Conservancy.
Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox told the Park Record why it exists. When Empire Pass was being developed in the 1990s, people hiked, skinned and biked up the slope every day.
"That was everybody's collective backyard," Fox said. "The community realized that was going to change as the ski area moved into that area, so it was important to the community that the public access for trails was protected."
The easement was updated this year. Fox said the 2026 changes added protections around the Anchor Trees area and "made it clear that public access is a value of that easement."
The easement protects public access as a value. It does not promise the trail will be open every season, and the land still sits inside a working ski resort. Deer Valley's posted safety policy says the general public may not travel uphill within resort boundaries at any time, including on foot or snowshoes. The same policy describes Bonanza Flat as adjacent backcountry. Deer Valley's Mountain Report doesn't give a reason or date for Anchor Trees' closure, only the listing. Its neighbors under Empire, Buckeye and Conviction, carry the same "Closed for Season" label.
The order things close above the Montage
Anchor Trees is one step in a sequence that began before it opened. Here is where each piece stands for a reader on Thursday, Oct. 22:
- Oct. 1: Bonanza Loop and Tall T closed. Park City closes these trails every year from Oct. 1 to July 1 to protect wildlife during the fall rut. The city lists Bloods Lake Trail and other nearby routes as still open.
- Oct. 14: Empire Pass parking closed. Mountain Trails Foundation's trail report said the lot is closed for construction of the winter Bonanza warming hut.
- Already: Anchor Trees listed "Closed for Season" on Deer Valley's Mountain Report, with no closure date shown.
- Oct. 30–31: last weekend of the bus to Bloods Lake. Park City Transit's 9 Purple "Transit is your Trailhead" extension runs Friday through Sunday, weather permitting, from July 3 to Oct. 31, 2026. Oct. 31 falls on a Saturday, so the season ends on that Friday and Saturday. Before that comes one full weekend, Oct. 23–25. The city's Transit is your Trailhead page says the bus runs every 20 minutes on extended-service days and is free. Mountain Trails Foundation's transit-to-trails schedule shows it stopping at the Montage.
- Guardsman Pass: open until further notice. UDOT's seasonal roads status for October 2026 lists SR-224 over Guardsman Pass as open, with no closure date set. UDOT says the road typically closes for winter from November through May or June, depending on weather. A storm closed it temporarily on the night of Oct. 12, a reminder of how quickly that can change. TownLift reported that this closure was not the start of the seasonal shutdown.
- Dec. 5: Deer Valley's anticipated opening day. That's the date Ski Utah lists for the 2026-27 season, conditions permitting.
While the road stays open, cars can still reach the Bloods Lake and Bonanza Flat lots. The city names Empire Pass, Bonanza Flat and Bloods Lake as the area's three main lots. Its trails and pathways page prohibits parking on the roadside or at undesignated trailheads. According to Park City Trails, parking at Bonanza Flat and Bloods Lake costs $5 an hour on weekdays and $8 an hour on weekends while the road is open. The city's Bonanza Flat permit application offers eligible Park City households up to two free annual permits.
What the closed lot is making room for
The Empire Pass lot is closed for a city project. Park City's FY26 budget adjustment, presented at the June 4, 2026 council meeting, set aside $59,571 in RAP Tax funds for Trails and Open Space "for the purchase and seasonal installation of a yurt as a warming facility at Empire View Area." That item appears in the budget document next to other RAP Tax awards from the same cycle. Those include shade at the new aquatic center at PC MARC and new softball dugouts at City Park.
The warming hut fits how the high ground works in winter. Park City Trails describes Bonanza Flat as an alpine Nordic area with 12 kilometers of groomed Nordic trail and five miles of groomed multi-use trail. Those trails sit at about 9,000 feet, and the area is isolated enough that the city tells visitors to plan for bad weather. A heated stop at the Empire end gives people who walk or ski in a place to warm up before they head out or turn back. No opening date has been published.
Getting up there once the gate closes
When Guardsman Pass closes for winter, the route reverses. Upper Marsac, or SR-224, is closed to public cars in winter. Park City Trails says you can hike, ski or bike the closed road itself, a half mile and 600 vertical feet from the winter gate at the Mid Mountain Trailhead up to Empire Pass. On days without a shuttle, the 9 Purple bus to the Montage still gets you to the bottom of that climb. The city warns anyone walking up Marsac to watch for ice, drop-offs and vehicle traffic.
Last winter the city added the Bonanza Winter Shuttle. It ran Fridays through Sundays, 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., from Dec. 19, 2025 to April 19, 2026, and picked up a few steps from the Montage bus stop. It carried up to 11 passengers along with fat-tire bikes, Nordic gear, snowshoes and muzzled dogs. No 2026-27 schedule has been announced. Until one is, last season's dates are only a guide to how the service worked.
Before one last fall hike
From now until the pass closes, the Bloods Lake side is where you can still hike on foot. A few rules and conditions apply right now:
- Dogs. Leashes are required on Park City trails unless signs say otherwise. Dogs aren't allowed within 100 yards of Bloods Lake. Park City Trails says that's because Bloods Lake is part of the watershed.
- Mud. Mountain Trails' Oct. 16 update called it mud season after a wet start to the week. The foundation suggested giving higher trails a sunny day to dry out and repeated its rule: "If it is sticking to your heels or wheels, please turn around to prevent trail damage!"
- Missing signs. Crews have taken down signs on parts of Deer Valley and Park City Mountain to prepare for winter. Mountain Trails asks hikers to double-check which trail they are on.
- Uphill on resort terrain. Deer Valley's safety and conduct policy bars public uphill travel inside resort boundaries at any time.
Anchor Trees should be back on the Mountain Report once the snow melts and the summer trail season starts. When it is, the start is easy to find. It's where the upper Mid Mountain switchbacks pass under the Empire Express, just above the Montage.
We spend our days in the neighborhoods around Empire Pass and Bonanza Flat, and we keep track of how this high ground changes from season to season. If you'd like to talk about life above the Montage, in winter or summer, the team at Stein Eriksen Realty Group would be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.
