West Valley City, UT

Decker Lake Park

Run time – 57:31 + 2-minute kick

This pocket of Salt Lake City might be the Mormon Slums. The hotel was right next to I-215, tucked into a barely accessible mini-neighborhood with two sketchy apartment complexes and a facility with a very high cyclone fence, the kind that inverts in a large semi-circle at the top, which, as it turns out, is the Decker Lake Youth Center. Clearly they are more concerned with deterring anyone from the outside getting in than the other way around.

I could see on the map that there was a lake, with a path around it, so even though part of it was basically a highway sidewalk, it looked relatively promising. And I was pleasantly surprised. The path was paved about 40% of the circuit, and the rest was flat and finely graveled. The lake held waterfowl and had a lot of vegetation around it. It was also a long loop, which is nice, because a short loop gets monotonous.

I walked through the apartments to get to the lake, and they reminded me of some of the complexes we used to patrol for permit violations when I drove impound tow truck in Portland back in the 90s. Cars in various states of disrepair, oil and fluid stains on the asphalt, trash all over. In one place I walked past, there was a strong stench of human waste, like there was an open sewer nearby.

And then the park was idyllic and clean, even with the disconcerting minimum security youth center bordering the trail. There were a few local residents walking or running their dogs, a family that came down to the water to feed the geese, and a couple of random loners looking for a victim to stalk.

The thing is, this is Utah. There are few places in this country that I have visited that feel safer than even the worst places in Utah. There must be nefarious activity afoot somewhere in Utah, and West Valley City is likely one of those places, but the lack of local culture gives the region a superficiality that removes extremes.

It is the natural beauty of Utah that makes it special, and you will not find that in SLC, although Decker Lake Park comes close. It really is nice that they kept this greenspace in the quadrant between the freeways. It was breezy, and it got cold when the sun went down, but it was the right temperature for a fully-clothed run. I do like to run with sweats, long-sleeve shirt, hoodie, stocking cap, and gloves. It is comforting.

And, of course, the mountains are there to tower above us with complete ambivalence. They do not care about the activities of the puny humans in the valley.