OGDEN -- The weather has begun to warm up, and residents have taken to area trails again. And, for the most part, residents view the trails as safe.
Recent incidents on trails in the Provo and Salt Lake City areas don't seem to have caused local residents to shy away from trail use.
Last Sunday, Draper police recovered the body of 15-year-old Riverton resident Anne Kasprzak in the Jordan River along the Jordon River Parkway Trail.
So far investigators have not ruled the death a homicide, but do consider the circumstances suspicious.
Shortly before noon Wednesday, Ogden residents Zjani Arnold and Natalie Judkins pushed strollers on the Ogden Parkway trail toward Dee Sports Park.
Both use the trails and parkway, Arnold more so, especially during the summer.
Arnold who likes to bike, run or push a stroller with children, prefers the more-populated and open areas, such as the Ogden Parkway trail, as opposed to the more wooded areas within the middle of Ogden.
"This way seems safer," Arnold said.
Ogden residents Humberto Lopez, Isidra Bautista and Trinidad Mora regularly walk the Ogden Parkway trail during the day, starting from the edge of the mountain.
They have never had a problem and feel safe.
"No one is here," Lopez said.
There have been assaults on the trails in the Top of Utah, however.
In September 2010, a jogger was sexually assaulted on the Legacy Parkway trail.
West Bountiful Police Chief Todd Hixson said the community has not expressed any concerns recently.
"We do go down into the trail head and everything," Hixson said. "We actually do spend considerable time down there."
Each city is in charge of securing its own area of the trails. The sheriff's offices handle trails that run through unincorporated areas.
Hixson said the police department will have additional bike patrols this summer.
Ogden Police Lt. Danielle Croyle said they have not had reports of any suspicious activity along the trails in Ogden, nor have they fielded any concerns.
Community policing officers routinely check trails and don't find much activity to raise concern.
"The most significant is kids doing airsoft wars up there," Croyle said.
Davis County Sheriff's Sgt. Sue Poulsen said deputies patrol trail areas a few times a night.
"They do look for suspicious activities in the course of their normal patrols," Poulsen said, "but we haven't stopped anything suspicious recently."
Trails within U.S. Forest Service land are still closed.
"The higher you get, the wetter it is, and the more snow you get," said Kathy Jo Pollock, spokeswoman for U.S. Forest Service.
Forest Service lands usually open the end of April or beginning of May, depending on the weather, Pollock said.
When they are open, the lands are protected by seasonal employees, who walk and hike the trails.
West Haven resident Brandie Dawson is not a regular on the trails but said she does feel relatively safe when she goes out.
"It depends on the time of day," Dawson said. "You wouldn't catch me here after dark."
Her running companion however, Ogden resident Casey Ross, is a regular. He likes to the run the trail with his dog, a boxer.
As a man with a big dog, he has never felt worried on the trails, but he realizes there is a possibility that anything could happen.
"Nobody is safe anywhere," Ross said, "so ignorance is bliss."
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