Another surprisingly well built park out in the middle of nowhere (sorry Oakley, but it’s true and you know it’s true). This park is closest to the bussling metropolis of Kamas. In case you don’t know where that is, it’s a little ways from Heber, which is a little ways from Park City, which is a little ways from Salt Lake City.
Directions: Go to Kamas. Then keep going north. The road curves sort of west, and soon thereafter you’ll see the park to your right, fairly close to the road. There, how hard is that? If you can’t figure that out, go to Kamas and talk to the gas station attendant.
Built by the Site Design Group which has built other various parks in Utah, they’ve once again done a decent, if not ideal, job. Hence they will be spared from the heaviest criticism I usually dole out to builders of public skateparks, although they will not escape unscathed.
See their page on the park here.
You can also see some construction photos at http://www.funkskateboarding.com/skateparks/oakley/
Now on to the commentary. Yeah, so I skated the place on Saturday, which happens to be my anniversary. How cool is my wife for letting me skate here on our anniversary? All you guys should be so lucky. We had gone up for a picnic at Butterfly lake and she was nice enough to let me pass by the park on the way back home. Anyway…
Two rails. One is for the pros with a nice big kink at the end. Does anyone actually like having a kink on the end of a handrail? I mean, it might provide some extra challenge when it’s found there by natural means, but do we actually want to build them into parks? I think it would be hilarious if some skater cut it off. Skaters vandalizing skateparks to make them more skate-friendly. That would be classic. And is that an actual launch ramp in the photo? Yes, it can be used for doing methods and fastplants ala Tommy Guerrero in The Search for Animal Chin. Then there is a nice flat area in the foreground for your streetplant session. Virtual unknown Jim Thiebaud will rule, of course.
The other rail is lower and straight. More reasonable for guys like me who aren’t pro. There are some decent ledges, a mellow hip, a steeper hip, both with good approaches and good landings. More big tranny than you can shake an angry fist at, etc. But at least it’s good tranny with some variety and not too lumpy.
And the best thing of all? It’s not too crowded. Take a trip up there some day, it’s sort of worth it.
this skate park is awsome and has some great rails and nice vert