I am  flying into salt lake this coming weekend and staying for 2 1/2 days.

Any suggestions for hikes, outdoor activities, must sees and eats ?

I am visiting solo to see if salt lake will be a good fit for me and my family.

Hill aerospace museum.

John Browning museum

Ancient life museum

Kennecott mine

Stay away from the Great Salt Lake unless you stay in your car, right now the stinging gnats are brutal.

Right now the best hiking trails are still covered with snow, the Bonneville shoreline trail on the east bench can be accessed from several trailheads from Draper to Ogden. Great trail system that will give a decent view of the valley.

Do you already have a job lined up?  The Salt Lake-Provo-Ogden metro area is probably 120 miles long north to south.  Salt Lake City certainly isn't representative of the rest of the metro area.

What's your budget for housing?  I presume you've browsed the real estate listings already.  

Spending at least a half day making the trip from Salt Lake up to Park City over to Kamas then Heber, down through Provo Canyon and back up to Salt Lake through Utah County would be worth it.  

A trip up one of the canyons would nice as well Big or Little Cottonwood or American Fork.

What are you looking for that would determine if SLC "fits" your family?

Early '23 we decided to sell and move. We settled on UT based on economics, 2A, outdoor activities, and weather. In April '23 we flew down to look at some houses and scout the areas. One requirement was to be within 1 hour or so of a major hospital and airport. The other requirement was someplace that didn't fee cramped, crowded, urban-sprawlish. That eliminated a lot, if not all, of the SLC metro area. Which I'm glad, I'm not a fan of that valley, even if it does have trees. We looked in Tooele, but was told by locals to avoid that town and area. There are 3 towns in the area that are growing.

For right now, I can look out any window in my home and see mountains, which was #1 desire for me and my wife. Eventually the area will be covered in homes, but right now, it's pretty empty.

So as a new transplant (I brought my politics with me!), here's what I've learned:
Avoid SLC valley unless you are upper middle class. Home prices are higher there, plus it's where the "old money" live. There are pockets of serious wealth.
Anything bordering the Great Salt Lake will get smelly. We looked at homes in Syracuse and was not impressed with the smell nor location (the new highway does help access).
There are home developments right next to small farms/ranches. You'll drive past $1m homes and the next property is a small 1950s house with acres and a dozen horses or goats.
It's dusty. Drive-thru car washes are to Utah as Starbucks is to Washington.
Our area is windy. High plains wind isn't bad in the summer or early fall, but winter and spring it's cold.
Lightning storms are awesome and plentiful.
Saturday is a busy day, Sunday is much more relaxed. Costco on Sunday is a joy.
A lot of drivers are dumb. Lanes are a loose guideline. Turning right, you should always pull over to the shoulder/bike lane before turning. Semis/Dump trucks will usually drive in the left lane except on the interstates. They don't want to miss the street they have to turn onto that's 5 miles down the road. Almost everyone runs red lights. My light turned green and 3 cars drove through the intersection after mine was green.

The things we do miss from Washington:
Trees
Healthcare industry. The service in these fields leave a lot to be desired. My wife will get scheduled for an appointment and not be notified until the day before.
Teriyaki - I guess it's a west coast or Washington thing, I guess like UT's chicken affliction.
Decent coffee (for the wife) - Sbux usually messes up her order, and the local chain is spotty, at best. Dutch Bros is fine, but in a poor location.
Businesses staying open on Sunday.

The chicken places that I can recall:
Chic-fil-a
Zaxbys
Popeyes
Raisin' Canes
Houston Hot Chicken
LoveBirds
Mr. Charlies Chicken Fingers
Slim Chickens
KFC
Super Chix
Wingstop
Wingers
Buffalo WW

I appreciate the info. I hate gnats !

I am planning on checking out odgen as it's top on my list to move to based on my research.  I will checkck out that trail system you suggested .ty

I don't have a job lined up yet but there are a few furniture companies in the slc area that I am going to apply with, if I like my visit. The  slc real estate market looks  pretty similar to Nashville where I currently live based on my research (expensive) .

I will make that half a day drive to see the views and try to check out cottonwood or american fork.
I appreciate it.

Great info @mikeyb76.  I have a 3 yr old daughter and 1 yr old son. It's important for me and my wife  to raise the kids someplace they can get a good dose of nature, hiking, camping and other outdoor activities. I prefer the cool to cold weather vs hot weather. My favorite seasons are fall, spring  and then winter . Summer is least favorite. I don't care much for night life or the coolest hippest spots. I am more of a homebody that likes to get outdoors and hunt, fish, shoot, hike and etc.

@mikeyb76, sorry if I missed this, what part of the slc area did you end up moving to?

If you're handy with hands and can run machines, there are some other places for employment opportunities like SilencerCo, DesertTech, Action Target. ;) I was surprised at the number of companies I recognize here. I was just wasting time on /maps and saw that Tier1 is in Ogden. Backcountry.com, Petzl, Black Diamond. Burton has a building here. West Valley City is the probably the Industrial Hub or center of the SLC's business park. The airport is north of that, so flight paths, etc. The area and surrounding area is pretty typical of industrial/biz park areas. Cheap land because of airport. Warehouses & distribution centers & typical industrial park buildings to the north, west, and south.

We settled on a little place west of Utah Lake. My wife & I both work from home (traffic can be a nightmare here sometimes). When I do an early morning Home Depot runs on the weekend, there's a steady stream of SxS on trailers and 4x4s heading past me on the highway (locals know where they're going- 5 or 10). There's also hiking/MTB trails on the Lake Mountains, which are to the west of Utah Lake (a non-usable lake 95% of the time). A busy public range at Soldier's Pass. We're in a location where we can hear the Tooele Army Depot exploding unused/old ordinance in the summer. It's f**king awesome. Scared the s**t out of my wife when it first happened. Only one explosion actually shook the house. It's pretty infrequent, and so far done between 11am-1pm. We get helicopter flybys (Blackhawks, Apache, Bell Ranger) from people flying to/from Utah Nat'l Guard and Tooele range area. Sometimes they'll be on the deck. Love it.

Yesterday we drove up to SLC to have dinner with our niece. We left about 4:40pm and got there at 5:45pm. About 40mi, mostly freeway during rush hour. Not bad, really. In WA, a one-hour commute got you 25-30mi during rush hour, if you were lucky.

Because it's usually breezy to windy here, we don't have much of a bug problem. And no constant water source for mosquitos.

A lot of neighborhoods have paved walking paths, so it's really easy to find someplace to walk that's not too far away, and not a "flat" sidewalk. I can do a 1.3mi sidewalk loop or walk to a paved path that goes everywhere through the town. You can join a community pool as well, if your home development doesn't have one. It seems inexpensive, like $9 a month/person. A lot of cities/towns have water parks, or some water feature for kids to cool off in a bigger park. Obviously, because of the concentration of LDS, there are a lot of family-friendly activities. FatCats is a local chain of arcade/movie theater/bowling/food entertainment.

We have friends who moved down here from WA about 9 months before us. Husband took a job as COO for a company in Provo. They live in Pleasant Grove, in a really nice, small development. Everyone there was really nice when we met them. Most people are nice/friendly. And no, we have not been approached by any LDS, or asked to attend a local service. It did take some time for us to find a church we liked, though. We really like The Well in Sandy, it's similar to the church we attended in WA, without the issues that one had. They stream services live, so when it's a hard morning to get moving (landscaping/gardening all day Saturday, half of my garage is moving stuff we haven't unpacked, etc), we'll stay at home and watch.

The other benefit I like being in a new, developing town is we're "in the country". We have kids in the summer learning to ride motorbikes, ATVs, and SxS around our place. Where I come from, people didn't like that noise and would get pissed. I think it's great. Kids need to learn, and it's better to be close to home where they know where they're going, and you don't have to pack up everything and go find a place to ride. Last year 4 kids lined up on a street for a drag race. I laughed and thought it was awesome. And we're 30min from good ORV places.

In the summer Sundance is open, so you can hike/ride the lift up and explore the lift. And it's pretty close to Orem/Provo. There are some reservoirs where you can go paddleboarding/kayaking, but they get pretty busy, and the bigger ones are on the east side of the mountain. Provo River has rafting/floating. A day trip to Antelope Island you can hike around, explore the shore of the Great Salt Lake, see bison & more.

A note on weather - I've always been a heavy guy, so hot weather and humidity was a killer for me. Here it's pretty dry, so the heat doesn't bother me. It was 104* in Moab when we were there, and compared to WA, it felt in the mid 80s. The urban world does kinda suck in the summer. Concrete and asphalt holding/reflecting all that heat. You do need to drink more water here. And the dry weather also benefits you in the cold - it seems warmer than it is. I can be light clothing when it's 40* here. I rarely wore my big North Face parka this winter. Usually it was to clean the snow off the driveway & sidewalk.

Our niece lives near Hill AFB in Ogden and is a big outdoors person and skis pretty much every weekend in the winter. Hikes a lot, here & does weekend trips to Grand Teton/Yellowstone (5-6 hrs away!). 5 Nat'l Parks in Utah. Plus Great Basin in NV, about 3-4 hours from SLC.

Finding affordable housing can be a struggle. I looked at Utah in 2022, and found a new construction rambler in West Jordan for $430-440k. A year later that type of home was $525k+ in areas further away from SLC. One year, $100k more. Damn.

Wife & I looked at a place down in Spanish Fork. It's a little too far, it's on "the edge" of the metro area. Plus the development was right next to the train tracks. In WA, we were 3mi from the train and it took a year to get used to hearing it. Right next door? No thanks. I like where we are, we can go SLC or Provo for city stuff. North of SLC you can go Ogden or SLC.

I know it's an information dump, hopefully it's easy to absorb. The things we don't like here are pretty minor overall, given our lifestyle. Getting away from the political/social climate of WA was good. Getting better weather was good. A little cheaper than WA across the board (but gas was a big one) is good. Close proximity to outdoor recreation was good, even though we had that in WA - 30min drive and we could be on a good hiking trail.

I really appreciate the insight! A lot of things you mentioned resonate with me. I am looking forward to my visit.

@MikeyB76 gave a great run down. I’m in Lehi - halfway between Orem/Provo and SLC. Grew up in Orem and am now a realtor, so I get to drive all over the place.   Housing is expensive because we have a lot of people coming in and those that are from here like to stay due to all the reasons expressed (good economy, family friendly, 2A, good outdoor fun), the outdoor stuff is close by - we do a lot of hikes with my kids and usually drive 20-50 minutes to get to cool stuff. Nice to live in a medium size city, but have so much outdoor stuff just a short drive.

I know you’ve already been here, but holler with any questions in the thread, or PM me and I’ll kick you my number so we can talk.  

I got to say that after visiting the salt lake area I really dig it.  I didn't spend much time south of slc. I spent   most of my  time visiting  between slc and ogden. I think the Kaysville area seems pretty nice.

The Bonneville shoreline trail was really nice. I used it to get to the hidden valley trail and Malans peak trail from 27th and 29th streets in odgen.  Both those trails were butt kickers !

I drove from slc, to park city, to heber city and then was planning on driving through the mountains to Provo using 189 to check out the south suburbs of slc. But 189 near the lake by 113 was closed off do to a 18 wheeler driving into the lake . So I turned around and went back to slc the way I came 😞.

Heber city had some nice views and the smokey Joe cup of brew  I got from  black rifle coffee company there was the best I have had .

Lehi - home of the Footloose dance location. :D Crazy what 40 years of expansion can do to a place.

The MVC construction is gonna mess with travel for a while.