Living Room Trail Hiking Guide
Somebody, decades ago, started stacking flat slabs of sandstone into chairs and sofas on a bench above the University of Utah, and other people kept adding to it until there was a whole open-air living room up there facing the valley. The trail to it climbs 971 feet in a bit over a mile from the foothills behind Research Park — steep, dusty, and completely worth it for the novelty of sitting in a stone armchair watching the city light up.
The Climb
From the trailhead near Colorow Drive the path goes up without much ceremony, gaining nearly a thousand feet in around a mile on loose dirt and rock. It is short but genuinely steep, and the surface is dusty in summer and slippery when wet. There are several braided paths through the lower section; they converge, but a map or a downloaded track helps on a first visit because the route is not signed in the way a park trail would be.
The Furniture
The bench at the top holds an assortment of stacked-slab chairs, couches and side tables built and rebuilt by visitors over many years. Sitting in one with the valley spread out below is the entire point of the hike. Please build up rather than tear down — the arrangement survives because people add to it rather than dismantling it, and rebuilding a collapsed chair is part of the culture here.
Sunset and Lights
West-facing and close to town makes this a sunset trail. The city grid lighting up as the sky goes over the Oquirrhs is the view people come for, and on a fine evening you will not have the furniture to yourself. Bring a headlamp: the descent is steep and loose enough that doing it by phone light is a genuinely bad idea, and the trail is unlit.
Season and the Inversion
Spring, autumn and winter are the best seasons. The foothills bake in summer with no shade at all, and the loose surface turns to dust. Like Ensign Peak, this trail often climbs above the valley inversion in winter, which makes a grey, still January afternoon in the city into clear sunshine within forty minutes. That is a substantial local benefit and the reason the trail sees year-round use.
Access and Dogs
The trailhead sits at the edge of Research Park with limited parking on residential and campus-adjacent streets — read the signage, which is enforced during university hours. Leashed dogs are permitted; this is foothill land outside the protected watershed. There are no facilities. Rattlesnakes are present on these slopes in the warmer months, which surprises people this close to a university campus.
Hiking tips for Living Room Trail
- Carry a headlamp for sunset trips — the descent is steep and loose, and doing it by phone light is asking for a fall.
- Download a track for your first visit; the lower section braids and the route is not signed like a park trail.
- Build up the stone furniture rather than dismantling it — the arrangement only survives because visitors maintain it.
- Use it in winter to climb above the valley inversion, the same trick that makes Ensign Peak worthwhile in January.
- Read the parking signage carefully near Research Park, which is enforced during university hours.
Nearby trails to explore
- Ensign Peak
- Grandeur Peak
- Mount Olympus
Hike this trail with TrailMates
The Living Room is Salt Lake's favourite after-work climb. Use TrailMates to find hikers meeting for sunset laps above the university. Download the TrailMates app to join them.