Happy Trails

Student housing as singular as Utah’s scenery? That’s the idea behind Trailhead, the newest residence hall on campus. The 350,000-square-foot, 1,446-bed facility opened this fall, and it’s geared toward the outdoor enthusiast in every student. 

“The theme of the building is about bringing people together through recreation,” says Sean Grube, U associate vice president of Housing & Dining.

First, there’s the living-learning community, Wild Utah, which immerses students in Utah’s landscapes through classes offered by the U’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism.

Then there’s the design, with its nature-inspired color palette, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a showstopping mural of Big Cottonwood Canyon. There’s space to store skis and snowboards, and plenty of bike storage—the number one amenity students request, Grube says.

His favorite features? A combination of the bouldering room, with its mechanical climbing wall, and the courtyard. Trailhead’s two irregularly shaped buildings shelter the outdoor gathering spot like winding canyon walls, and “it feels like you’re in southern Utah,” Grube says. “It’s a space students are just going to want to exist in.”

And to provide fuel for all this outdoor recreating, the Trailhead café offers late-night dining, with QDOBA Mexican Eats, The Other Side Donuts, and a Vietnamese eatery called All Pho U.