The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History is ready for a hiking excursion back in time.

Donald Roll, co-chair of the organization, will lead a group of 25 Park City Museum members on a 4-mile Ontario Ridge hike that will start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday at the Upper Sandridge Lot on Marsac Avenue.

Museum memberships start at $55, and are good for any Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History hikes throughout the year.

The intermediate hike on Wednesday will take between 2 ½ to 3 hours and include 700 vertical feet. Hikers should bring water, sunscreen and snacks.

“There are a few ways we can do the hike, so it will depend on how ambitious the group is,” said Roll, who is also a Park City Museum board member. “There are a couple of extra loops we can do, if the group is keen on doing that.”

The goal of the hike, and other hikes hosted by Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, is to bring Park City’s mining history alive, according to Roll.

“There is a very large number of buildings and artifacts that people sometimes drive right by, and these hikes give them a chance to see these places with their own eyes,” he said.

Some of these places include the Ontario drain tunnel and remnants of the High Line train track that was built in 1889 to serve the Ontario Mill, Roll said.

“These two things are right across the street from the parking lot where we will meet for the hike,” he said. “They are both integral parts of our history.”

The hike will head up the ridge to the Ontario head frame.

“We will take a hiking trail, but there is a gravel road there that takes you up to many of the mining sites, including the Massachusetts Mine, the American Flag Mine and the Judge Office Building, which was part of the Daly Judge Mine,” Roll said. “Then we go up to some of the remnants of the Alliance Mine. There’s a watchman’s cabin and a storage and maintenance building that is still standing.”

The hike is a loop, which Roll prefers.

“There is a variation that I like to do that takes you up toward the Ontario Bypass Trail, which is across the way from Deer Valley’s Lady Morgan lift,” he said. “And that will take us down to a trail that will take us by rusted cars and mining shacks. I’m a loop kind of guy, because they make things so interesting.”

In addition to bringing the town’s history back to life, these hikes show the importance of preserving these structures, which is the main mission of Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, Roll said.

“You have to realize most of these structures are made out of wood, and wood rots,” he said. “It would be a shame if they all fell down, because these are things that make Park City unique. We’re lucky, because we can hike, bike and ski past these pieces of history that are 100 to 120 years old.”