Another person moving to SLC has questions

So I'm moving from Arkansas for a job in Sandy and am looking for a little bit of beta

-Best places to look for 1bd/studio apartments that are relatively cheap, pet friendly, and not too far from Sandy or a gym?

-Favorite Gym in the area?

-Coffee Shops / Bars I should check out?

-Biking trails?

-Best gear shops?

-etc

I've been researching a lot but I'd love to hear the opinions of some locals.

Cheers!

Air quality sucks!

Cue the Mormon bashing...3...2.....1....

Biking trails are plentiful. See utahmountainbiking.com/idx-…

Don't worry about the outdoor options...they're a plenty! The closer to the bench (i.e. the mountains) you get, generally neighborhoods get nicer and more expensive.

You'll hear two dominant opinions from here:
1, it's super weird and the air quality is terrible (already mentioned); don't do it.
2, there are so many great outdoor options that it's hard to imagine living anywhere else.

Your call.

I'm selfish and don't want to share the climbing or stellar ski lines so...go someplace else? Just kidding.

The drivers are bad, but you only have to deal with them because you're less than 2 hours away from ~5 different rock types and a day's drive for even more options.

For bars/coffee shops, and apartments I would look to live on the east side. Sugar house, Avenues, Milllcreek are some good bets. Access to climbing, skiing, gyms is also best from east side.

Millcreek has lots of options for apartments, a good gym(Momentum - the membership gives you access to the one in Millcreek and the one in Sandy), and easy access to bike trails. It has good, or at least good for Utah, local neighborhood bars. It is also easy to bike to Sugarhouse or downtown for trendier bars if that is your thing. Easy commute to Sandy.

Sandy itself is very stale. Cottonwood Heights is closer to Sandy than Millcreek, but has less to do than Millcreek other than terrific access to the Cottonwood canyons. I'd say Millcreek if nightlife/access to the city is more important, and Cottonwood Heights if proximity to work is more important.

Charlie S wrote:The drivers are bad, but you only have to deal with them because you're less than 2 hours away from ~5 different rock types and a day's drive for even more options.

Everyone everywhere, from Utah to Wisconsin to Nicaragua says that where they live has the worst drivers. The only exception to that rule is NYC and Boston as far as I can tell. Utah drivers seem about average to me, with maybe a few more minivans captained by completely oblivious drivers than you usually see. Just avoid I-15 from 3300 south in slc down to around Orem during rush hour and the traffic is essentially nonexistent.

Is air quality at park city better?

In what ways are the morons bad? Ie, do they steal your first born, interfere with public education, etc?

I hope I'm not stealing your thread, Andrew!

If you wanna live in Sandy, you should probably go for the East side closer to Little cottonwood.. or Cottonwood heights is also a good option to stay close to Sandy, but have quick access to freeway systems. You might have more luck with renting a room in a house full of outdoor enthusiasts in that area than finding an apartment. There aren't many apartment buildings on the benches. There is a nice set of condos on Highland parkway and Bengal where you could get a 1 bedroom condo. I can't think of any apartments further east than that.

Momentum is a great. Two gyms in the valley with one membership. One of them is in Sandy.
If you prefer bouldering The Front is the way to go. But it is downtown(ish).
Tons of great biking and climbing around the valley.
Check out IME for your climbing needs.
Good luck!

The air quality in Park City is terrific. The inversion never creeps that far up. The air quality in SLC itself is pretty good most of the time - there are just a few hot summer days when ozone levels are high, and the soul crushing winter inversions. Last winter we didn't have many air quality problems at all, maybe because we didn't have a winter, but some years it can be terrible. You can always get out of the bad air by going up a 1000 feet or so, which is easy to do in any of the canyons east of SLC.

Rad, thanks for the tips guys.

One more question would be your favorite crag to hit up for a quick day trip?

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