Utah Senator Vows 250-Mile Hike Across State for America’s 250th
John Curtis will end at Provo's Stadium of Fire.
Lots of Americans would like to tell their politicians to take a hike. Republican Senator John Curtis will oblige them next month.
The former mayor of Provo, Utah, will begin a nine-day, 250-mile trek to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial.
He’ll start June 26 near Bear Lake in Dingle, Idaho — a freshwater lake that straddles the Idaho-Utah border — and end by walking into Brigham Young University’s LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo during the annual Stadium of Fire event July 4.
“Averaging about 30 miles per day, I will walk through our local communities, having Utahns join me along the way, to reflect on and promote the distinctly American values consecrated in our founding documents and also those exhibited by Utah’s pioneer settlers,” he said in a video announcing the journey.
Mr. Curtis, elected to the Senate in 2024 to succeed the retiring Mitt Romney, is an interesting political figure in the Beehive State, a solidly GOP bastion for several presidential elections. He was a Democrat from 2000 to 2006, chairing his county’s party at one point.
By 2009, after switching parties, Mr. Curtis was elected mayor of Provo in the city’s nonpartisan election. He then won a special election to succeed Congressman Jason Chaffetz in 2017, and remained in the House until he won the Senate seat.
Although the full route Mr. Curtis will walk has not been disclosed, both his starting and endpoints are significant.
Mr. Curtis’ mother, Hazel Dawn Curtis, was born in Dingle, he said. Bear Lake has turquoise-blue water, leading some to call it the Caribbean of the Rockies. It’s a popular tourist destination in the intermountain region.
Stadium of Fire, founded in 1980 by the Osmonds musical family, this year will feature country artist Brad Paisley as the headliner, along with what organizers say will be “the nation’s largest stadium fireworks and drone spectacle, a thrilling helicopter flyover and rousing tributes to military and civilian heroes.”
Patrons at the stadium will also have the chance to snack on Cougar Tails, rectangular pastries topped with maple-flavored icing and named for the university’s Cougars football team.
Not everyone in Utah is pleased with Mr. Curtis’ plan. Voter Dale Anderson of Herriman wrote on X, “Commemorate America’s 250th anniversary by securing our elections. Get the SAVE Act passed!!”
The senator’s office did not respond to The Washington Star’s request for comment.
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