Recent Trip to the Salt Flats

A couple of weeks ago, I took my son, Owen, to the Salt Flats of the Great Salt Lake. Specifically, we wanted to explore the area near the Spiral Jetty. These salt flats are often muddy and less salty than other parts of the salt flats. In this photo essay, we are on the opposite side of the lake and a good 200 miles from where land speed records are broken.

Here is a typical view, albeit in black and white, of the area we were exploring. It looks pretty barren, but there are all kinds of interesting things to see and do here.

This is the place of some vigorous activity in the past, as noted by these two pilings. Pilings like these are found all over the northerly shores of this amazing lake.

Owen was gracious with his "alone time with Papa" and allowed his sister Lotti to come. He also agreed to let my Uncle Brent come. Brent has long been a hiking companion of mine and a fellow lover of nature. My kids are beginning to request to go to "pretty natural places" on vacations now--one of my great achievements as a Dad!

Owen and Lotti were immediately drawn to this old buoy.

Upon digging with his pocket knife, Owen discovered that there was pink water just two inches below this salt floor.

Here, Owen gazes into the strange, salty water.

This is a common sight at the shores of the Great Salt Lake. All pelicans in northern Utah nest on Gunnison Island, many miles to the southwest of us here. If you see any pelicans at all in Utah, they are far from home and are probably out for the day catching food. They return each evening to their island.

While exploring, we came across this old building ruin. We were speculating on what it was used for, but came to no conclusions.

Brent is hiding here amongst the ruins.

Though were were all there together, Lotti seemed to take a special interest in being alone and exploring things at her own pace. She often reminds me of me! She found lots of interesting crystals and salt formations. The crystals were gypsum and were quite large.

This lake foam blows in from the middle of the lake and is often common on this shore. I've been here some times when the foam is so abundant, it blows around like snow and it's like a blizzard!

Owen, who is nine years old, seemed to have boundless energy. He ran around doing antics and having fun. Note how the water is only inches deep here. It is like this for miles.

We finally made it to the Spiral Jetty, an amazing work of art created by Robert Smithson in 1971. I can't begin to tell you how fantastic this artwork is. Far from being just a pile of rocks in a spiral formation, it does everything art should do. It moves you, it causes you to explore, look deeply, investigate yourself, and consider the amazingness of nature. This is one of the top things to see in Utah if you ever get the chance. It is worth the 2 1/2 hour trip from Salt Lake City.

We usually walk down a short road to the Spiral Jetty, but our explorations took us way out by the shoreline, so we approached it from the lake instead.

The Spiral Jetty is often under water in the late Spring and early Summer. But now, the water is several hundred yards away.

Compare this photo above with the one that follows and note how different this place looks when just an inch or two more water is present:

This was taken on a previous trip to this place.

It was a fantastic day! My kids seem to discover things that I miss, and it's fun showing them things that they miss. I guess that's one reason why it's so fun to go together.

One last look at the Great Salt Lake before heading home.