Day trips out of Salt Lake City
 

My wife and I will be spending two and a half days in Salt Lake City at the end of this month before heading up to Yellowstone N P. We are looking for things to do to fill our time there, including possible day trips that we can do out of the city, but there doesn't seem to be much on offer, other than the lake (which we will see on the way north) and the copper mine. We will not have a car, but could hire one for a day, if necessary.
Any suggestions, please?
Rob.

Rent the car for a day and head up the American Fork Canyon to Timpanogos Cave. http://www.nps.gov/tica/index.htm
Park City is also a worthwhile place to visit.
In the eastern part of SLC you could see the Hogle Zoo and the "This is the Place" monument.

For what it's worth, I was able to see both the Great Salt Lake and Bingham Canyon Copper Mine on an enjoyable half-day tour. Can't remember the name of the company, though -- you'd have to do an online search or call the Salt Lake City tourist office.

I recently did a little spur-of-the moment several-hour trip from SLC to Park City. The upscale shops and restaurants on the main streets were charming and all, but I didn't really figure out any activities that were enjoyable enough to make it worth the trip. Not to say that that such activities don't exist, just that, lacking any specific suggestions, I didn't figure out what they were.

Thanks. I have seen that tour advertised, bachslunch, and we may do it in the absence of anything else on offer.
If we do that, and take a car for the day down to the Timpanogos Cave, that will pretty well fill in our time, since we will want to spend a bit of time on foot in Salt Lake City itself.
All we need now is for the ash cloud to clear so that flights in, and to and from, New Zealand can get back to normal!
Rob.

Wow hawksbill! You missed out. I live here - right now there is still a lot of snow up high, but most of the trails are dried out.

Here's what we do in the summer:

mountain bike
road cycle
hike
golf
water ski, wake board
horseback ride
fly fish
hot air balloon
free outdoor concerts
Utah Symphony at Deer Valley
all types of special outdoor events - August is the Arts Festival
Wednesdays is the Farmer's Market in the Canyon's parking lot

This weekend was the Ragnor relay race - a team relay race, 24 hours (yes they run thru the mountains, even all night). It's so popular, the number of teams participating have to be limited. Last year we had about 45,000 people in town for it!

Besides all the art galleries and great restaurants, one of the greatest things to do is visit the Utah Olympic Park, where the bobsled, luge, nordic jumping, and skeleton were held. It's a world class facility where International competitions are held and our future Olympians train - all summer too! You can watch any time. Great ski museum and the aerialists put on an amazing show every Saturday at noon (not free) and worth every penny.

As you exit I-80 and go towards Old Town, there is a Visitor's Information Center just off the road up to the Olympic Park. The folks in there are extremely helpful.

Another fun thing to do is go up to Snowbird and take a ride on the tram. I don't think you will be able to hike down this year - as they as skiing until July 4. There is a LOT of snow.
Have fun!

I also agree that Timpanogas Cave is great. It's very popular and you need to get tickets in advance. Go very early in the morning, take a jacket (very cold inside) and water (hike is tough), the but cave is incredibly beautiful and big!

Definitely get a car.

Ditto to all that Dayle wrote. Mountain bike downhill at Deer Valley and have the best lunch ever!! I love the attractions at Snowbird when the valley is so hot. ANY of the canyons are gorgeous!! Or take the trolley (free I think) to Red Butte Gardens and This is the Place Park. The Copper Mine is pretty awesome. The Musuem of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point is a great dino museum. The Museum of Natural HIstory will open at the UofU this November. The U has a decent fine arts museum. Plenty to do!!

FYI...you won't actually "see" the Great Salt Lake driving from SLC to Yellowstone. It really is beautiful and so unique, and since you have time, you could rent a car and take a day trip up there. Two summers ago, my husband and I rented a kayak and spent a beautiful day kayaking on the lake. There is a migratory bird sanctuary, Egg Island, in the middle of the lake, and hardly anyone else around. It might be a nice, peaceful way to spend a day before you join the throngs of tourists in Yellowstone. :)

Museum in Ogden is interesting.
Promontory Point where the transcontinental railroad joined is interesting. Nearby is the Thiokol plant (google thiokol utah) that has an interesting display of solid fuel rockets, including one of the shuttle boosters (Thiokol built them)

Note that only a small portion of TRAX, Salt Lake City's light rail system, is free -- all of it downtown.

I'll definitely second seeing Red Butte Gardens and This is the Place Park (especially the seasonally open pioneer village), but TRAX doesn't go close by either of them. There is a city bus that serves both This is the Place and the nearby zoo. Red Butte Gardens is a bit of a hike from the bus or TRAX, but I remember taking a University of Utah shuttle bus there, and there are university shuttle stops near TRAX.