On April 29th, 2022, we were able to hop out onto the Bonneville Shoreline Trail at the mouth of City Creek Canyon with 12 students from YMCA Eisenhower to explore the foothills. It was a perfectly cloudy day to get outside and discuss the value of sharing public land.
We were able to hike 0.75 miles and spend a lot of time enjoying City Creek. This was an amazing opportunity to allow the students plenty of space to decompress. They mentioned how stressful the end of the school is and that many of them had not been out on the Bonneville Shoreline before. I was very excited to expand on topics like our watershed, Wasatch ecology, and teach them more about how biodiverse the mountains just outside of the Salt Lake Valley are. Being able to hold space for these students on the trail allowed them to feel a sense of accomplishment, exploration, and peace.
Even though this is a trail with access for all, this area is definitely pushing the concept of barriers to nature. As you drive up to the trailhead, you do happen to pass through a very wealthy neighborhood and this is something multiple students referenced - expressing how “No wonder we wouldn’t come up here” or “I guess these mountains are for the rich.” It was important to understand how the students were feeling as they were engaging with nature and reassure them that we each have a space in the mountains, foothills, canyons, and so on. After a beautiful time together, we planned a hike for the fall. It will be great to take these students out to a different part of the Wasatch next time to reinforce that all areas are areas for them to enjoy.
