The west range Salt Lake County
The range everyone sees and nobody visits, and the towns at its feet
The Oquirrh side, the valley's other mountains
The postcards face the Wasatch, but the valley has a second wall: the Oquirrhs, the drier range along the west edge, with the largest human made excavation on earth cut into its face and a string of towns at its feet that the copper built. Here is the west side as one subject: the mine and its overlook, Kearns' Olympic ice with a 2034 date on it, Magna's company town Main Street, and West Valley's venue calendar.
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah
Updated October 2026
The short answer
The Oquirrhs, said OH-ker, are the drier, lower mountain range along the west edge of the Salt Lake Valley, the wall opposite the Wasatch that the sun sets behind. They have no ski resorts and almost no public road access, because much of the range is private mine ground, and cut into their east face is the largest human made excavation on earth, the Bingham Canyon copper mine. At their feet sits the valley's west side: Magna, the town the copper built; Kearns, with an Olympic speed skating oval in the middle of it; West Valley City, the state's second largest city and its busiest venue calendar; and newer growth running south toward Herriman. You can look into the mine from a Rio Tinto Kennecott overlook in season, and the west side's ice is expected back on the Olympic calendar for the 2034 Winter Games.
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The valley's other wall, and why it reads so differently
Every valley postcard faces east at the Wasatch. Turn around and there is a second range: the Oquirrhs, pronounced OH-ker, running the whole west edge from the Great Salt Lake down to the county line. They are drier, browner and lower key than the Wasatch, with no ski resorts, almost no public road access, and one feature that outweighs all of that, the largest human made excavation on earth, cut into their east face for more than a century.
The difference in character is ownership as much as climate. Large stretches of the range belong to the mining operation, which is why the Oquirrhs never grew the trailhead culture of the east bench. What grew instead were the towns at their feet: Magna, the company town the copper works built; Kearns, an Army camp turned suburb with an Olympic oval in the middle of it; West Valley City, Utah's second largest; and the newer growth running south toward Herriman.
The west side reads as one subject: the range, the mine, and the short version of what each bench town carries. The deep dives belong to the cities themselves, and their guides are linked as you go.
The mine
A hole you can see from anywhere in the valley
The Bingham Canyon Mine is the west side's defining fact. It is the largest human made excavation on the planet, roughly two and a half miles across, about three quarters of a mile deep, and still growing, because this remains a working Rio Tinto copper operation running around the clock. The terraced benches spiraling into the pit have been cut continuously since the early 1900s, and the mine has produced more copper than any other in history. The 2013 Manefay landslide, one of the largest non volcanic slides in North American history, moved a mountainside inside the pit, and the operation absorbed even that.
You can look into it. The Rio Tinto Kennecott Visitor Experience runs on advance online tickets, 6 dollars a person and children under five free as of 2026, from a parking area off Bacchus Highway at the southwest end of the valley. Every visitor rides a shuttle up to the overlook, with the first shuttle in the morning and the last in mid afternoon, and the self guided exhibits cover the geology, the machines and the reclamation work. The scale of the pit from the rim resets what the word big means. The experience has opened and closed more than once over the years, and a same day ticket at the gate is never guaranteed, so book on Rio Tinto's own page before you drive.
The overlook, in brief
It is a working mine, not a park. Access exists at the operator's discretion and the visitor season has changed repeatedly across the years. Book ahead, check the official Rio Tinto Kennecott page the week you go, and do not improvise side trips on mine property.
The bench towns
What the west side carries, town by town, in a paragraph each
Each of these is a summary on purpose. The full stories belong to the cities' own pages, and the city guides carry the practical detail.
Kearns and the Olympic Oval
The Utah Olympic Oval was built for the 2002 Games and never stopped working: a 400 meter speed skating track whose fast ice has carried a long share of the sport's world records, plus international ice sheets in constant community use, and public sessions that make Olympic ice an ordinary weeknight outing. It is expected to host long track speed skating again for the 2034 Winter Games, which gives Kearns years of runway with its name on the world's calendar. The practical detail lives in the Kearns city guide.
Magna and its Main Street
Magna began as the copper operation's company town and still reads like one in the best way: a century old brick Main Street, now a Utah Main Street Program site, with recent public investment in a new library, senior center and streetscape. It became a metro township in 2017 and a full city in 2024, and it holds the county's only real doorstep on the Great Salt Lake's south shore. The town detail sits in the Magna city guide, and the lake itself has its own page here.
West Valley City and the venues
Utah's second largest city carries the west side's event calendar: the Maverik Center, which staged Olympic ice hockey in 2002 and runs concerts and arena sport year round; the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre, the valley's big outdoor summer stage, which answered to the USANA name until 2024; and the Utah Cultural Celebration Center on the Jordan River, whose festival grounds host the county's most international calendar. The city picture lives in the West Valley City guide.
The range itself
Public access into the Oquirrhs stays limited compared with the Wasatch, which is exactly why the west bench keeps its quiet. The classic exception is the seasonal road up Butterfield Canyon at the range's south end, the one ordinary car route toward the high country, though it opens only part of the year and has been closed by a washout during 2026; its detail belongs to Herriman's pages. For most residents the range works the other way: it is the wall the sunset happens behind, and the reason west side evenings look the way they do.
Keep reading
The county's other subjects, on The Local
The canyons
The Cottonwood canyons
Four resorts, two roads, one protected watershed, and a summer case the locals make.
Read the guideThe road rules
Canyon winter access
The traction law, the free tire sticker, the parking rules and the mornings the road stops.
Read the guideDowntown
Downtown Salt Lake
Temple Square mid restoration, a creek through the mall, and two teams under one roof.
Read the guideThe west line
The Jordan River Parkway
About 45 paved miles through eight of the county's cities, end to end.
Read the guideDays out
Family weekends in the valley
Eight outings ranked by activity and price, from free farm grounds to Olympic ice.
Read the guideThe season
The valley in winter
What the inversion is, how locals read the forecast, and what the season asks.
Read the guideThe lake
The Great Salt Lake
The level, the marina's Crane Day, the dust, and why the whole valley watches.
Read the guideThe bench
The Bonneville Shoreline Trail
Where the bench trail is real, where it breaks, and the shoreline it follows.
Read the guideThe region hub
Salt Lake County, in one place
Eighteen cities, nine county subjects, and the hub that holds the whole valley together.
Open the hubQuick answers
The west side, answered
Yes, through the Rio Tinto Kennecott Visitor Experience. Tickets run 6 dollars a person as of 2026, children under five free, booked online in advance, with a same day ticket at the gate never guaranteed. Every visitor rides a shuttle from the parking area off Bacchus Highway up to the overlook, with the first shuttle in the morning and the last in mid afternoon, and the exhibits are self guided. The experience has opened and closed more than once across the years, so confirm the current season on Rio Tinto's own page before driving out.
It is the largest human made excavation on earth: roughly two and a half miles across at the rim and about three quarters of a mile deep, with terraced benches corkscrewing to the bottom. It has been producing since the early 1900s and has yielded more copper than any mine in history. The scale defeats photography; from the overlook, the haul trucks working the benches below read as toys until you learn each one is the size of a house.
Fully. It is a working Rio Tinto copper mine running around the clock, with ore also yielding gold, silver and molybdenum, and mine planning has extended operations well into the future. That working status is why visitor access exists at the operator's discretion, why the overlook is reached by shuttle rather than a public road, and why the answer to any current season question is Rio Tinto's own visitor page rather than a date frozen here.
In April 2013 the Manefay slide sent a mountainside of the pit's northeastern wall to the floor in two massive movements, one of the largest non volcanic landslides in modern North American history. The operation's monitoring saw it coming: equipment and people were moved, nobody was hurt, and mining resumed around the debris. It closed the old visitor center for years, which is part of why today's visitor experience runs from a different site.
A 400 meter long track speed skating oval built for the 2002 Games, plus international sized ice sheets, a running track and a full public calendar: open skating sessions, learn to skate programs and club sport. Its high altitude ice has carried a long share of the sport's world records, and it is expected to host long track speed skating again for the 2034 Winter Games. Hours and session prices live on the venue's own site and in the Kearns city guide.
Because the copper operation built it: Magna grew up in the early 1900s around Kennecott's mills at the range's north end, and its century old brick Main Street is the surviving face of that era. The street is now a Utah Main Street Program site with recent public investment in a new library, senior center and streetscape, and Magna itself became a metro township in 2017 and a full city in 2024, after a century as an unincorporated town.
Far less than the Wasatch, and that is the range's defining rule. Much of the range is mine property or otherwise private, so there is no east bench style network of trailheads. The one ordinary car exception is the seasonal road up Butterfield Canyon at the south end of the range, which opens only part of the year and has been closed by a washout during 2026, covered in the Herriman city guide. For most valley residents the Oquirrhs function as scenery: the wall the sun sets behind.
West Valley City carries most of the calendar: arena events at the Maverik Center, the valley's big outdoor concert season at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre, which answered to the USANA name until 2024, and an international festival slate on the Utah Cultural Celebration Center grounds along the Jordan River. Add Magna's Main Street events and the Oval's competition calendar in Kearns and the west side stages more than its reputation admits. Each venue's season lives on its own site.
That is the expectation: Salt Lake City's 2034 Winter Games plan reuses the 2002 venue set, which was the backbone of the successful bid, and on the west side that means long track speed skating at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns and figure skating and short track speed skating at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, with the ice hockey bound for the Delta Center downtown. Final venue assignments belong to the organizing committee as the Games approach, so treat the specifics as expected rather than sealed until then.
The west side prices differently, and the sunset is included
The Oquirrh bench carries some of the valley's most attainable ground, and the trade offs, commute lines, the working mine, the quieter range, are exactly the kind of thing a local reads street by street. The west side city guides hold the detail, and a Salt Lake County partner agent covers the ground work when a shortlist forms.
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