SANTAQUIN, Utah — One big pair of scissors cut open a slice of nature on Monday that the people of Santaquin had lost for the past seven years.
Local leaders say Santaquin Canyon has been closed since 2018 after multiple natural disasters dealt major damage to the area.
For some, it’s an escape.
“It’s memories, it’s a beautiful part of our state,” said U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT-4). “It’s so Utah.”
For others like Lynda Broadbent, it’s a place to come together.
“Ever since I was a tiny girl, I remember coming up here,” said Broadbent. “We’d put watermelon in the river to get it cold while we had a hamburger fry.”
For all, the great outdoors are a valuable recreational opportunity — an opportunity that’s been taken from the people of Santaquin for years.
“This canyon was closed, and it was closed in late summer of 2018 because of the fire,” said Santaquin Mayor Dan Olson.
Broadbent recalled those wildfires in the southern end of Utah County, which then gave way to terrible avalanches and mudslides in Santaquin Canyon the following year.
“Between all the fires and the snow and everything, it just took out the roads,” Broadbent said.
Remnants of nature’s wrath still remain, but locals say the cleanup wasn’t the catch.
“They didn’t really want to open it up, I don’t think,” Olson said.
“Year after year, the red tape of trying to get someone to really take a look at it and do the right thing,” Owens said. “Common sense — allow us to rebuild.”
Through the tenacity of caring locals and the help of national leadership, Santaquin’s gateway to adventure finally swung open over Memorial Day weekend.
“Memorial Day, of all days — to have the freedom to enjoy our nature the way we should,” said Owens.
Signage in the canyon at Trumbolt Park tells a similar tale from Santaquin’s history, when in 1983, floodwaters devastated the canyon road and city leaders soon learned it may not reopen at all. Locals fought for it back then, and now, more than four decades later, they’re grateful to have it open once again.
As engines rumble along fresh pavement, past new culverts and retaining walls, Santaquin’s mayor reminded people to reacquaint themselves with the road.
“Take it easy 'til you get used to it,” said Olson. “It’s a narrow road, it’s a little steep, but boy, it’s fun... and it’s home.”
For the first time in seven years, Broadbent is ready to spark a fire and rekindle family traditions.
“I think it ought to be next Monday. We have a family home evening up here with a hamburger fry,” said Broadbent. “We’re so blessed to have it back in our lives.”
As of now, the road is open only to the Tinney Flats Campground. Mayor Olson says in two weeks, the road will open fully, going up to the Nebo Loop.
