By Scott Buehler, Moving UtahSkate the 400 meter Olympic long track
5662 S Cougar Ln Seven dollars August to March Directions
There is one 400 meter speed skating track in the state of Utah and the public is allowed to stand on it for seven dollars. That is the whole entry, and nothing else in this town or most others competes with it. The Utah Olympic Oval was built between 1999 and 2001 for about 30 million dollars, it roofed a 275,000 square foot floor on steel cables close to 400 feet long, and it has been in continuous use ever since the 2002 Winter Games ended.
Say the number with some pride, because it earns it: this is Olympic ice in the most literal sense. The Oval held the long track speed skating at the 2002 Games, and it carries the same assignment for the 2034 Winter Games, so a lap you pay seven dollars for is a lap on the surface the world's fastest skaters race on. In a typical year public sessions run on the 400 meter oval from August through March, then move onto the two international sized hockey sheets from April through August. Turning up in May and expecting the big oval is the single most common disappointment here. The Utah Olympic Oval page carries the prices, the waiver, the rental fleet and the physics behind the venue's claim on its own ice.
A 400 meter lap does not feel like a rink
A hockey sheet is 200 feet long and you are turning almost constantly. A 400 meter oval has straights you can actually build speed down and curves banked for people going far faster than you are, and the first thing most people notice is that the far end of the building is a genuinely long way away. It is a different activity wearing the same skates, and it is the reason to time a visit to the months when the long track is the one in use.
The competition calendar closes it without warning
This is a working training and competition venue first and a public rink second. US Speedskating has been headquartered here since 2001, clubs train on a schedule, and championship events take the ice for days at a time. None of that shows up as an opening hours change, it shows up as an event, so the session calendar is the thing to read rather than the building hours. Checking it takes a minute and saves a wasted drive across the valley.
The details
Getting there
The Oval sits on Cougar Lane with the fitness center and the event center on the same short run of street numbers, and parking is on site. An online waiver has to be signed before you arrive, so do that at home rather than in the parking lot.
Before you go
- Check the session calendar rather than the building hours; competitions close the ice.
- The 400 meter oval is the August to March surface; April to August moves onto hockey sheets.
- Sign the online waiver before you go.
- Helmet rental is 5 dollars and the venue strongly encourages one.
- Speed skates are not available to rent, so the fleet is figure and hockey skates only.
Swim year round at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center
5624 S Cougar Ln Paid All year Directions
Three indoor pools that run all twelve months, seasonal outdoor pools, and a water feature the district calls Chomper's Cove USA, on a site that also carries a gymnasium, two levels of weight and cardio space, a sauna, a steam room, a spa and pickleball courts. For a town of 4.63 square miles that is a genuinely large stock of public leisure, and it predates the Olympic venue next door by decades.
The organization behind it is the interesting part. The Oquirrh Recreation and Parks District is a separate taxing district with a board of three trustees elected by the residents who fund it, which means the pools here are not a city department and not a county facility but a thing the neighborhood votes on directly. The Oquirrh Park and the water page takes the pools, the park, the district and how the two buildings on this lane relate to each other.
The indoor water is the year round argument
Outdoor pools in this valley are a fourteen week proposition and everybody knows it. Three indoor pools open every month of the year is a different kind of amenity, and it is the reason this site carries a town through February rather than just through July. The outdoor water usually opens in late May, with full summer hours from early June, and it moves with the weather and the staffing, so confirm the current opening with the district before you count on it.
A fitness center pass is not an Oval ticket
The two buildings are about forty street numbers apart and are run by two separate organizations, so memberships do not cross. There is exactly one exception and it is worth knowing: fitness center members skate free on Monday skate nights at the Oval, though the skate rental is still charged. Every other session, and every pool visit, is bought from whichever organization owns that building.
The details
Getting there
The center is on 801-966-5555, open Monday to Thursday 5am to 10pm, Friday 5am to 8pm, Saturday 7am to 5pm and Sunday noon to 5pm, with parking on site shared with the park.
Before you go
- Confirm current daily admission and membership prices with the district before you go.
- Outdoor pool opening moves each year, usually late May with full hours from early June.
- Sunday hours are the shortest of the week at noon to 5pm.
- A fitness center membership covers this building, not the Oval, except on Monday skate nights.
- The 53 acres of park share the site, so a swim and a playground are one stop rather than two.
Watch a competition on the fast ice
5662 S Cougar Ln Varies by event A calendar, not a season Directions
The Oval calls itself the fastest ice on earth, and the arithmetic backs the boast. At the 2002 Winter Games, ten Olympic records and nine world records fell on this track, the most world records ever set at a single event. Watching a fast field skate it is a completely different outing from skating it yourself, and it is cheaper and easier to reach than most people assume.
Championship and World Cup level speed skating comes through this building, US Speedskating trains here permanently, and a weekday session of national team intervals is a free thing to walk in on if the building is open to spectators that day. Nothing about it is grand. It is a shed on a suburban lane with the best ice in the sport in it.
Why the ice is fast, in plain terms
The reason is physical rather than promotional. At roughly 4,675 feet the air is thinner, so there is less resistance against a skater at speed, and the ice itself holds less dissolved oxygen, which makes for a harder, faster surface. That altitude edge is why records have kept falling here, and why the venue's own name for itself has held up rather than aged into a slogan.
There is no season for this, only a calendar
Unlike public skating, which runs on an August to March long track window, competition here happens when the sport's calendar sends it. The only way to catch an event is to look at what is scheduled rather than turn up in a likely month. It also makes this the entry most worth setting a reminder for, because a world class field on this particular ice is a thing you plan around rather than stumble into.
The details
Getting there
The building seated about 5,200 for the 2002 Games and drew 53,056 across the speed skating program, so a competition here is an intimate arena by Olympic standards. Guest services is on 801.968.6825 for what is on and whether spectators are admitted.
Before you go
- Ring guest services on 801.968.6825 to confirm spectator access before you go.
- Training sessions and competitions are two different things with two different rules.
- Competition days close the public ice, so do not plan to skate and watch on one trip.
- The 442 meter running track circles the ice and is a separate facility again.
- Parking is on site, which is not something most competition venues can say.
Spend a morning in Oquirrh Park
Cougar Ln Free All year Directions
Fifty three acres of park immediately beside the fitness center, holding a playground, baseball diamonds, a large sports field, walking paths and the Kearns Skate Park. It is free, it is open, and it is the largest piece of ground in this town that anybody can simply walk onto without buying anything, which in a place whose two headline attractions both charge admission makes it more important than a park of that size usually is.
It also does something useful for a visit: it sits on the same site as the pools and a few doors from the ice, so a morning here does not need a second car journey. The skate park in particular is the entry most likely to surprise somebody who came for the Olympic venue, because a concrete skate park and a 400 meter ice oval sitting within sight of each other is a very specific kind of coincidence.
Fifty three acres is the number worth holding
In a town of 4.63 square miles, a single 53 acre park is a significant share of the open ground, and it is concentrated rather than scattered. That has a practical consequence: the difference between an address near this campus and one on the far side of the grid is not a small one, because there is no second park of this size to fall back on. Walking distance to these acres is a real feature of a street rather than a description of the town.
It is district ground, not city ground
The park is run by the same Oquirrh Recreation and Parks District that runs the pools and the event center, which means questions about bookings, closures and rules go to 801-966-5555 rather than to a city hall. That distinction matters more than it sounds, because separately the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District contracts parks maintenance for other ground in this area out to Salt Lake County. Two answers, two organizations, one town.
The details
Getting there
Parking is shared with the fitness center on Cougar Lane, so the park, the pools and the Oval are all reachable from one stop. The district is on 801-966-5555 for bookings and current rules.
Before you go
- The park is free; the buildings beside it are not.
- The Kearns Skate Park is on this site rather than somewhere else in town.
- Bookings and rules come from the recreation district, not from the city.
- Ball diamonds and the sports field carry organized use, so check before planning a game.
- One parking lot serves the park, the pools and the Oval, which is unusual and worth using.
Come for the August festival week
Cougar Ln and the grid Free to attend One week a year Directions
The Fire, Water and Ice Festival covers about 30 acres of the fitness center, Chomper's Cove USA and the Utah Olympic Oval together, which makes it the one day of the year the whole Cougar Lane campus behaves as the single place everybody already assumes it is. The name is not a marketing conceit. There is genuinely fire, genuinely water and genuinely ice on the same ground, because the three buildings that provide them are neighbors. It runs on an August Saturday, starting around midday and finishing with fireworks after dark.
Separately, the town runs its own Kearns Hometown Celebration, and both fall in the same stretch of August. Between them they are the civic peak of the year here, the only occasions when this town is the destination rather than the venue, and the reason the honest advice for a first visit is to check a calendar before picking a week.
Two organizers, so check two calendars
The festival on the campus is the recreation district's and the hometown celebration is the town's, so no single page carries both. Dates move year to year, as they do everywhere. The practical move is to check the district and the town directly rather than a third-party listing, because listing sites hold old dates for events like these long after the organizers have posted new ones.
This is the week the campus makes sense
For fifty one weeks of the year the three buildings on Cougar Lane are three separate propositions with three separate tickets, and explaining that is most of what a visitor guide to this town has to do. For one week they are one event across thirty acres. If the aim is to understand why this small a town has this many public buildings in one place, that is the week to see it in.
The details
Getting there
Both run on the same side of town, and the campus festival uses the fitness center, the water feature and the Oval as one site. Parking on the lane is the constraint on the day rather than the hour.
Before you go
- Take the current dates from the district and the town rather than from a listing site.
- The campus festival and the town celebration are run by two different organizations.
- Both fall in August, and the dates move year to year.
- The festival is the one occasion the whole Cougar Lane campus operates as one site.
- Arrive early for parking; the lane serves three venues on an ordinary day.
Use Kearns Library
4275 W 5345 S Free County hours Directions
A Salt Lake County Library branch on 5345 South, free to walk into, open Monday to Thursday from ten in the morning until nine at night and Friday and Saturday from ten until six. It is on this list for a plain reason: in a town where the two best things both charge admission and the third is a park, a warm building open six days a week with a program in it does real work.
It is a county branch rather than a town one, which is the recurring theme of this place and matters here in the ordinary way: the hours are the county's, the card is the county's, and the number to ring is 801-943-4636 rather than anything municipal. What the branch holds and how it came to be there is relocation homework rather than visitor information, and it sits on the Kearns city guide.
Six days, and the two shortest ones are the weekend
The pattern is worth knowing before a first visit because it is the reverse of what people expect. The long days here are Monday to Thursday, running until nine at night, and the short days are Friday and Saturday, closing at six. Sunday is not an opening day. Anybody planning a weekend around this building rather than a weekday evening is planning around its narrowest hours.
It is the free indoor option, and there is not a second one
Every other indoor room in this town is ticketed: the ice, the pools, the gymnasium, the event center. That makes a free public building with long weekday evening hours more useful here than the same branch would be somewhere with a museum and a rec center and a community hall. It is not a destination and it does not pretend to be. It is the answer to a wet Tuesday that does not cost anything.
The details
Getting there
The branch is on 801-943-4636 and sits on the grid east of the campus, with its own parking. Hours are the county's rather than the town's, so check the county library site rather than a municipal page.
Before you go
- Monday to Thursday runs to 9pm; Friday and Saturday close at 6pm.
- Check Salt Lake County Library hours rather than any city listing.
- Borrowing needs a county card; looking around does not.
- It is a short drive from the Cougar Lane campus rather than a walk.
- This is the only free indoor public building of any size in the town.
Stand on the ground Camp Kearns stood on
About 4000 W 5400 S Free All year Directions
There is a field gun standing on a corner at about 4000 West and 5400 South, in the Arlo D. James Kearns Veterans Memorial Park, and it once stood beside the flagpole at the headquarters of a 5,450 acre army base that occupied everything around you. Kearns Army Air Base came into existence on 1 May 1942, was redesignated Camp Kearns on 1 January 1944, and was deactivated on 15 August 1946. Almost none of it survives, which is exactly what makes the pieces that do worth finding.
The base ran to about 926 buildings, an 1,800 bed hospital in ten wings, sixteen mess halls, five chapels, three theaters and a rifle range described as the largest west of the Mississippi. It was auctioned off in 1948. A handful of structures were moved or absorbed rather than torn down, and they are still in use today under other names. The Camp Kearns page has the full inventory, the survivors and where to look for them.
The street grid is the largest surviving artifact
The buildings went, the roads did not. A developer bought the remaining land, the streets, the utilities and the infrastructure for 287,270 dollars, and the postwar suburb was built on top of the army's layout rather than on a new plat. That is why this grid does not look like a pioneer town and does not look like a modern subdivision either. You are not looking at traces of a base in a suburb; you are driving on the base.
This is a scavenger hunt rather than a site visit
There is no visitor center, no interpretive trail and no preserved parade ground. What there is instead is a cannon on a corner, a theater absorbed into a school building, a chapel absorbed into a church, and a former train station in use as a day care. Anyone going in expecting a museum will leave disappointed; anyone going in expecting to find four things hidden in plain sight across a working suburb has a genuinely good afternoon ahead.
The details
Getting there
The memorial park is on a corner on the ordinary grid with street parking, and the other surviving structures are scattered across the town and across the boundary into Copperton, so this is a driving route rather than a walk.
Before you go
- The cannon stood beside the base headquarters flagpole before it stood here.
- The surviving buildings are in active use, so look from the street rather than expecting access.
- There is no visitor center and no interpretive trail on the base ground.
- The Kearns Historical Society, founded in 1998, holds much of the documentary record.
- One of the surviving chapels was moved out of town altogether, to Copperton.
Two buildings, forty street numbers apart
The ice and the water are neighbors and nothing else
Four of these seven entries happen on one short run of Cougar Lane, and the most common planning mistake in this town is treating that run as a single venue. It is two organizations with two sets of prices, two seasons and two memberships, sharing a parking lot. Here is the split set out once.
| The Utah Olympic Oval | The fitness center and the park | |
|---|---|---|
| Street number | 5662 South Cougar Lane, also signed as 4800 West | 5624 South Cougar Lane, with the park on the same site |
| Who runs it | The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, a venue operator | The Oquirrh Recreation and Parks District, with three elected trustees |
| What you buy | A session of seven dollars, plus seven for skates and five for a helmet | A daily admission or a district membership, priced by the district |
| The season | Long track August to March, hockey sheets April to August | Indoor pools all year, outdoor water from late May |
| Does the other pass work | Only on Monday skate nights, and the rental is still charged | Never; an Oval admission buys no pool time at any hour |
| Who to ring | Guest services on 801.968.6825 | The district on 801-966-5555 |
Prices and season windows move, so confirm both before you travel, and note the 53 acres of park between the two buildings are free at all times.
Before you go
What to settle first, because the best thing here is on a season and the second best is on a calendar
Three things go wrong on a first visit to this town and each takes about two minutes to avoid: arriving in the wrong half of the year for the long track, arriving without the waiver signed, and assuming one ticket covers a campus that has never sold one.
Sort before you drive
- Whether the month you are traveling in puts public skating on the 400 meter track or the hockey sheets
- The online waiver the Oval requires, which is quicker to do at home than in the parking lot
- The session calendar rather than the building hours, because competitions close the ice
- Which of the two buildings on Cougar Lane you are actually going to, and what it charges
- Current dates for the August festival week, from the district and the town separately
Check on the day
- Whether spectators are admitted to whatever is training or competing, on 801.968.6825
- Outdoor pool hours with the district on 801-966-5555, since they move with the season
- Salt Lake County Library hours for the Kearns branch, which are the county's and not the town's
- Whether the ball diamonds and sports field at the park are in organized use
- Parking on Cougar Lane, which serves three venues from one approach
Turn up and it is fine
- The 53 acres of Oquirrh Park, free and open, with the skate park on the same ground
- The cannon at the veterans memorial park, on a public corner at any hour
- The walking paths and the playground, which need nothing booked and nothing bought
- Kearns Library on any of its six opening days, at no cost to walk into
Most of these seven answer to somebody other than the town, and that changes who you call. The Oval is a foundation's, the pools and the park are a recreation district's, the library is Salt Lake County's, and the veterans memorial ground sits on a grid whose maintenance and permits run through a municipal services district serving six other communities. The Hometown Celebration in August is the only entry on this list the town itself organizes. Working out which organization owns your question first is the difference between a two minute answer and an afternoon.
What this list leaves out, and why
- The Oquirrh range rising behind the town and the enormous mine cut into it. Both are the west side's subject rather than this town's, and they have a county page that treats them properly.
- The Jordan River Parkway, which is roughly four to five miles east of this grid. A trail you drive to is not a thing a town owns, and the corridor has its own page.
- The Cottonwood canyons and their four resorts, which are all the way across the valley. Reaching them from here is a real convenience and it is not an attraction of this town.
- The Element Event Center on the same lane, which is a genuinely useful ballroom with two decks and two conference rooms, and is a place you hire rather than a place you visit.
- The Maverik Center, USANA Amphitheatre and everything else on the valley's west side event calendar, which sit in the next city north and belong to that city's pages.