Utah is all about outdoor recreation and is known for a wide variety of outdoor activities. If you’re planning a weekend of hiking, backpacking, and camping, Utah has countless options. One could spend years exploring just one of the State’s five national parks, 44 state parks, nine national monuments, five national forests, and more. Utah has about 23 million acres of public lands — 42 percent of Utah’s outdoors. Lands range from snowcapped mountains, alpine forest, wild rivers and canyon waterfalls to scenic red rock canyons, a saltwater lake and high desert landscape.
There are few places in Utah that make you feel as perfectly connected to nature as Layton, Utah. Some of the state’s most scenic sites have long been a local secret, and the secret’s getting out. That doesn’t need to be a bad thing, so long as we all treat the land, people and wildlife with respect. We’ve highlighted a few locations and activities, expected to help everyone better explore Layton’s trails, canyons, waters, campsites, and to help visitors see what’s worth protecting.
You can tap into your more adventurous side in Layton, Utah, where recreation opportunities are plentiful. With direct access to the Wasatch National Forest including the Bonneville Trail and Great Western Trail along the Wasatch Front, 15 city parks with every sports activity, over 24 miles of scenic trails, two reservoirs full of fish, two golf courses, Antelope Island State Park, Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, and nearby Snowbasin ski resort, the possibilities are endless.
Hiking and Biking
Backpacking in Utah guides you through alpine forests, red rock vistas, jagged peaks, and lush waterways. If you’re seeking a wide array of outdoor trail adventures, look no further than Layton City: your gateway to spectacular scenery and natural beauty. With over 500 miles of trails in Davis County, your mountain adventures might include waterfalls, wildlife, and most definitely incredible views. The extensive Davis County trail system offers hikers, bikers, and even horseback riders manageable terrain from easy to challenging.
Access is plentiful, to large trail systems such as the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with over 100 completed miles of a 280-mile trail system, extending from the Idaho border to Nephi, Utah, or the Great Western Trail — a 4,455 mile trail from Canada to Mexico, and running along the peak of the Wasatch Mountains.
Layton offers challenging and family friendly trails, such as the popular Adams Canyon trail, one of the most beautiful in Davis County. It is readily accessible, with a new, paved parking lot and restroom just above Highway 89. It starts with a switchback and heads into Adams canyon in a mostly cool shaded forest. The trail is 3.5-miles round-trip with a few steep areas, but the waterfall is definitely worth the effort. The hike is especially scenic in the fall with the changing leaves, but also rewarding in the summer to splash in cold water after your climb.
Camping
Utah is the thirteenth-largest state by area and covered in more than 300 public campgrounds and thousands of primitive campsites. Visitors and locals alike enjoy a wide variety of camping options in or near Layton City. Sites offer everything, from undeveloped camping for hardcore adventurists, to developed locations providing full amenities, designed with your comfort and convenience in mind. Davis County’s RV Parks and campsites are conveniently located near popular destinations – the Great Salt Lake and two of Davis County’s most popular amusement parks, Lagoon and Cherry Hill.
Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve
The Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve is one of Utah’s most unique natural treasures. Located along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake between Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and the Antelope Island State Park Causeway, Layton’s own Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve spans 4,400 acres of wetlands and uplands habitat and includes a boardwalk and observatory for birdwatching and wildlife viewing. The Great Salt Lake, the largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere, is a rich feeding ground for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl.
The lake supports between four and six million migratory birds as they journey from the Arctic to Central and South America. Some of the largest gatherings of wildlife ever recorded on the Great Salt Lake have been observed from the preserve’s visitor center, making it a birdwatcher’s paradise.
Antelope Island State Park
Antelope Island is located in the middle of the Great Salt Lake and accessed by vehicle on Antelope Drive. Within the park’s beautiful 28,000 acres, visitors enjoy playing on the beach, floating in salt water, biking and horseback trail riding, or discovering 40 miles of scenic hiking trails and photographing some of the West’s highly sought after big game. There’s plenty of wildlife to spot including antelope, mule deer, bighorn sheep, coyotes and a herd of over 500 free-roaming bison.
Fishing
In Utah, cool streams descend from rugged snowcapped mountains, feeding lakes and reservoirs where trout reach sizeable proportions. Throughout the year anglers pursue memorable experiences on waters that measure up to their passion. The state features more than 1,000 fishable lakes and numerous fishing streams.
Utah is full of great fishing spots, whether you’re fly fishing on a river, floating on a reservoir or fishing from the banks of an alpine lake. Some believe that any fishing trip involves a substantial amount of time in the car. But the truth is in a place like Layton, you don’t need to go nearly as far as you might think.
Layton City is home to Andy Adams Reservoir, Hobbs Pond, and Holmes Reservoir — all full of fish just waiting to be caught. A wide variety of fish species swim in these waters. Pineview Reservoir, Lost Creek Reservoir, East Canyon Reservoir, Echo Reservoir, and Mantua Reservoir are less than 45 minutes from Layton, also offer a wide spectrum of fishing opportunities. The High Uintah Mountain Range, a little over an hour from Layton, offers access to over 1,000 natural lakes with more than half of them supporting game fish such as brook trout and grayling.
Photography
The state of Utah is simply a paradise for landscape and nature photographers. Layton City and its scenic surroundings offer some of the best locations in the state for photography. Antelope Island State Park is among the most picturesque in the world. Simply driving from east to west through town allows you to see some breathtaking scenery especially during the golden hours as the sun rises across the Wasatch Front or settles on the west over the Great Salt Lake. The biggest challenge you will face during your photography adventure is deciding what locations to prioritize.