It’s 9 a.m., and it already nearly 90 degrees on the steep hillside below Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City, and pieces of trash are rolling down the mountain.
They’re being tossed by members of a jail inmate work crew that just found what one inmate calls the “Taj Mahal” of homeless camps.
There’s a fireplace with a grill and ventilation system that would send smoke into the air and away from a tent that appears to have been in place for years. The resident – who was gone by the time cleanup crews arrived – dug a system of hallways that lead to the sleeping area, fireplace and bathroom.