🥵 109°. A New Record. Here's Where to Take the Kids.
At 2:58 p.m. on Sunday, July 12, the thermometer at the Salt Lake City airport read 109 degrees — the hottest it has ever been in this valley since somebody started writing it down in 1874. School's out, the backyard is a griddle, and the kids are asking what's next. Here's the good news: some of the best family days along the Wasatch Front happen when it's unbearable outside. You just have to go up, get wet, or go inside. This is your survival guide — with hours, prices and ticket links.
⭐ WHAT JUST HAPPENED
Salt Lake City hit 109° Sunday afternoon (July 12, 2026) at the National Weather Service's official station near the airport — an all-time record in 152 years of record keeping. It didn't tie the old mark. It broke it by two degrees. The previous record of 107° had stood since July 26, 1960, and had been matched four times since, most recently in 2022.
And it isn't over. The Extreme Heat Warning runs through 6 a.m. Tuesday, July 14, with valley highs staying in the triple digits. Overnight lows only sag into the mid-to-upper 70s — the valley never really cools off, and that lack of overnight recovery is exactly what turns a heat wave from uncomfortable into dangerous.
Salt Lake County has opened Cool Zones — free, air-conditioned public spaces — across the valley. Find the closest one on the county's interactive map. → Salt Lake County Cool Zones
☝️ STRATEGY ONE: GO UP
Every 1,000 feet of elevation buys you roughly 3 to 5 degrees. A 40-minute drive up a canyon is the cheapest air conditioning in Utah.
Silver Lake Boardwalk — Brighton
At 8,760 feet at the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Silver Lake is the easiest high-country escape on the Wasatch Front. The loop is about a mile, most of it on a wide, wheelchair-accessible boardwalk — strollers, grandparents and toddlers all welcome. Picnic tables, interpretive signs, fishing piers, and a real chance of spotting a moose. Wildflowers peak in July and August.
Where: Silver Lake Visitor Center, ~14 miles up Big Cottonwood Canyon Rd (SR-190), Brighton
Season: Visitor center typically open daily, June through October
Fee: This is a U.S. Forest Service recreation fee area — $10 for a 3-day vehicle pass. The America the Beautiful pass is accepted.
Know before you go: This is protected watershed. No dogs. No swimming or wading. Bring bug spray — the marsh grows mosquitoes.
Timpanogos Cave National Monument — American Fork Canyon
The single coldest place a Utah family can legally stand in July: the caves hold at 45°F year-round. The catch is the hike — a strenuous 1.5 miles with 1,100 feet of climbing, on a trail where summer afternoon temps regularly top 100°. Earn your cold air.
Where: 2038 W. Alpine Loop Rd, American Fork, UT 84003 | (801) 756-5239 x202
Season: Cave tours opened May 18, 2026, and run into mid-October
Tickets:$2 to $12 depending on age for the standard Cave Tour. Lantern Tour $17. Introduction to Caving (14+) $22. Everyone needs a ticket, including infants. Tours are capped at 16 people and sell out daily. Book up to 30 days ahead. → Reserve on Recreation.gov
Plan on: 3–4 hours total. Bring a liter of water per person and a light jacket. No strollers or wheeled devices on the trail. The park is cashless.
Web:nps.gov/tica
TIP: book the earliest tour slot you can get. You want to be on that trail before the sun gets over the canyon wall.
Snowbird — Little Cottonwood Canyon
Ride the Aerial Tram 2,900 vertical feet to Hidden Peak at nearly 11,000 feet, where it's a different climate entirely. Summer operations run daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The All-Day Activity Pass bundles the tram, the Peruvian chairlift, the Mountain Coaster, the ropes course, the climbing wall, the tree climb and more — buy it seven or more days in advance and save up to 15%.
Where: 9385 S Snowbird Center Dr, Snowbird, UT 84092 | Ticket office (801) 933-2215
Tram tip: The rooftop balcony add-on is the only one of its kind in the country. Riders must be 42" or taller, and it doesn't run in rain.
Heads up: The Chickadee chairlift, ZipWhipper and Vertical Drop are on hold this summer due to construction on the Chickadee replacement.
💦 STRATEGY TWO: GET WET
Cowabunga Bay — Draper
Utah's most family-friendly big water park, and the pricing model is a gift to parents: admission buys you a half-day session, so you're not committing to eight hours in the sun.
Where: 12047 State St, Draper, UT 84020 | (801) 553-1000
Sessions: 10:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. or 2:30–6:00 p.m.
Tickets: 48" and above $25.99 | Under 48" $21.99 | Seniors 60+ $12.99
Included: Free parking, free tubes, free life jackets (infant through adult sizes)
Web / Tickets:Cowabunga Bay Draper
Splash Summit Waterpark — Provo
The 26-acre park most of us still call Seven Peaks. More than 15 attractions: wave pool, the Rainforest River, five drop slides, a big shaded kids' zone and a separate toddler area with shallow water and silly shapes. Bring your Coast Guard-approved life jacket and skip the rental.
Where: 1330 E 300 N, Provo, UT 84606 | (385) 309-2388
Tickets & current hours: Prices and the daily calendar shift through the season — check before you drive. → Splash Summit Tickets
Parent intel: Arrive before opening to claim shade. There is a parking fee, and tubes rent separately.
Provo Recreation Center — Provo
The best value on this entire list, and it isn't close. A day pass is $6.50 for adults and $5.50 for youth and seniors — and from May through August that admission includes the outdoor pool areas and the indoor aquatic center.
Indoors: Zippy's interactive treehouse with three slides, a zero-depth entry leisure pool and a lazy river. Outdoors: a wave ball pool, two water slides and a zero-depth kids' splash pool. Same ticket also gets you the indoor track, courts and playground — so when the kids finally prune out, nobody has to go home.
Where: 320 W 500 N, Provo, UT 84601 | (801) 852-6600
Web:Provo Recreation Center | Fees
The Free Option: Splash Pads
There are more than 80 splash pads in Utah, most of them free, and there is almost certainly one within 15 minutes of you. A few standouts:
Liberty Park (Salt Lake City) — Two of them, including the Seven Canyons Fountains, a scale model of the streams that come out of the Wasatch canyons. Educational, and they won't notice.
Wardle Fields Regional Park (Bluffdale) — A former 80-acre family farm, now the valley's best splash park. It has an inch-deep lazy river built for toddlers, so the little ones don't get flattened by the big kids.
Sierra Newbold Memorial Playground (West Jordan) — Designed for inclusive play; one of the most accessible splash pads in the state.
Ellison Park (Layton) — Over 20 spray features on a raised play structure with a slide.
Vineyard Grove Park (Vineyard) — Has a full-size slide, which is unusual for a splash pad, plus a shallow stream for the smallest kids.
Lorin Farr Park (Ogden) — The north end's best-known pad.
⚠️ Check hours before you load the car. A number of splash pads across the Wasatch Front have adjusted their operating schedules for drought conditions, and some are closed one or two days a week.
🏛️ STRATEGY THREE: GO INSIDE
Loveland Living Planet Aquarium — Draper
Cold, dark, quiet, and 4,000 animals. Walk the 40-foot shark tunnel, watch the Gentoo penguins, then get lost in Expedition: Asia, the new multi-story indoor cloud forest — nearly 11,000 square feet of rainforest canopy with clouded leopards and small-clawed otters.
Where: 12033 S Lone Peak Pkwy, Draper, UT 84020 | (801) 355-3474
Hours: Daily 10 a.m.–6 p.m. | Mondays open until 8 p.m., with $5 off tickets purchased after 4 p.m.
Tickets: Demand-based pricing — buy ahead, prices don't go down. Kids 2 and under free.
Bug World at the Natural History Museum of Utah — Salt Lake City
Built by Weta Workshop — the studio behind The Lord of the Rings — and it is on a clock. Through September 7, 2026, included with museum admission. Go on a Wednesday, when the museum stays open until 9 p.m. and you can wait out the worst of the afternoon.
Where: 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City | (801) 581-6927
Web:Bug World — NHMU
Free and Air-Conditioned
Museum of Utah — The state's first history museum opened June 27 in the new North Capitol Building. Four permanent galleries and the Mormon Meteor III land-speed racer. Admission free. → history.utah.gov/museum
Clark Planetarium — Over 10,000 square feet of hands-on exhibit space, free. Dome and IMAX shows are extra (about $10 adults, $8 for ages 3–12). → Clark Planetarium
Salt Lake City Main Library — Free, enormous, and a designated Cool Zone. Open Sundays 11 a.m.–5 p.m. → 210 E 400 South
BYU Museum of Paleontology, BYU Museum of Art, Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum — All free, all indoors, all in Provo.
Want the full list? See our complete guide:Museums & Art Galleries in Utah and Salt Lake Counties
🦁 THE EARLY BIRD PLAY: HOGLE ZOO
The zoo is outdoors — which is why you go at 9 a.m. when the gates open, do the African Savanna and the Great Apes while the animals are actually moving, hit the Rocky Shores Splash Pad, duck into the air-conditioned Wild Utah education center, and be back in the car by noon. The animals are more active in the cool of the morning anyway.
Where: 2600 E Sunnyside Ave, Salt Lake City | (801) 584-1700
Hours: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. daily
Summer tickets (May 1–Sept 30): Adult 13+ $26.95 | Child 3–12 $21.95 | 2 and under free | Buy online and save $2 per ticket
Web / Tickets:hoglezoo.org
🧊 THE PART PARENTS ACTUALLY NEED TO READ
Heat illness in kids escalates faster than in adults, and the warning signs are easy to miss when everybody is having fun.
Move the day. Shift outdoor activity out of the 10 a.m.–4 p.m. window. Morning and evening are the whole game.
Hydrate before you're thirsty. Thirst is a lagging indicator. Water bottles in the car, refilled.
Watch for: flushed skin, exhaustion, muscle cramps, headache, dizziness, vomiting. Confusion is a red flag — that's a 911 call.
Never leave a child or a pet in a parked car. Not for a minute. Not with the windows cracked.
Check on your neighbors — especially older ones, and anyone without air conditioning.
Find a Cool Zone. Free, air-conditioned, open to the public. The Weigand Center (437 W 200 South, Salt Lake City) is open 7 a.m.–7 p.m. daily, including Sundays.
Here is the strange gift of this place: on the day the valley recorded the hottest temperature in its history, you could have driven 45 minutes up Big Cottonwood and stood in a cool alpine meadow at 8,760 feet. Same county. Same afternoon. That's not a consolation prize — that's the whole reason we live here. Pack the water bottles, pick a direction, and go.
Sources: National Weather Service Salt Lake City (Extreme Heat Warning, July 11–14, 2026); Salt Lake County Cool Zones; National Park Service, Timpanogos Cave National Monument; Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest; Snowbird; Cowabunga Bay; Splash Summit Waterpark; Provo City Parks & Recreation; Loveland Living Planet Aquarium; Natural History Museum of Utah; Utah's Hogle Zoo. Hours, prices and operating schedules change without notice — always confirm with the venue before you go.
*Mountain & Main Magazine utilizes AI tools for research assistance and draft development. All content is reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by our editorial team.