Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake
August 9, 2005 | 1 Comment
Most guide books will tell you that Antelope Island is the best place to experience all that is The Great Salt Lake. As you pass across the 7 mile causeway leading to the island from the town of Ogden, you can listen in on an AM station to hear some facts about the lake.
First and foremost, why is this an inland salt lake? That answer is simple, there are no rivers or out lets leaving the lake. Rivers run in, but none leave, the only water that leaves the lake is through evaporation. This then leaves great quantities of salt behind. One section of the lake reaches 25% salt levels. What this leas you to realize is that the lake has been divided into sections allowing such a thing to occur. To the north of the lake, a railway causeway cuts off a large northern section of the lake, Gunnison Bay which is the saltiest part. The causeway going out to Antelope Island provides another separation, Farmington Bay to the south and Gilbert Bay to the north. Interestingly the wildlife seems to prefer one side or the other at varying times. When we drove out almost all the plentiful numbers of birds were in Gilbert Bay. On the way out they had switched to the south.
There were two types of birds we noticed here. First were a group stilt legged birds, the others were the truly entertaining ones. There were all of these little birds who seemed to enjoy spinning in circles. Check out the video (3.7MB MOV), they are awesome.
Stopping at the visitor’s center we learned the most fascinating fact. The Great Salt Lake is actually the remnant of an ancient, larger lake, Lake Bonneville. This monstrous lake was 325 miles long, 135 miles wide, had a maximum depth of 1,000 feet, and covered 20,000 square miles of western Utah and portions of both Nevada and Idaho. Of course this was over 14 thousand years ago…
After leaving the visitor’s center we went down to the beach. The beach is very long, in other word, you have to walk a ways to get out to the water. Initially we encountered really soft sand which encouraged us to leave our shoes in the car. This was a mistake. After getting a little ways out the sand becomes hard and sharp. So hard that bare feet don’t even leave impressions. We weren’t sure we’d make it without causing significant damage to our feet, but we pushed on regardless. The actual edge of the water is a bit disturbing with lines of dead brine flies on the beach and swarms of them in the water. Additionally after wading into the lake you notice the hundred of brine shrimp (or Sea Monkeys) that swim all around. Anyway, we didn’t stay in the water long, just long enough to draw up the courage for the trek back across the beach. My suggestion to visitors, wear shoes!
Next we sought out after the buffalo herd. Buffalo aren’t native to Antelope Island but rather were imported as an original group of 12 and have since spawned to a herd of 600. In fact, the last “great” buffalo hunt occurred here. The herd was up to about 400 in 1926 when a buffalo hunt was organized as an invitational event. At this event nearly all of the herd were killed off. Luckily a few survived and the herd was able to rebuild itself again. Each year all the buffalo are rounded up on the island, tagged, and counted.
One of the advertised highlights of Antelope Island is Fielding Garr Ranch. Built by Garr in 1848 it was intended as a stronghold for managing the Mormon cattle herds. These herds and the ranch supported the Mormon “Perpetual Emigration Fund” assisting in helping Mormons move out to the area across the Great Plains. In the 1870s the ranch was sold to John Dooly who introduced the original 12 Bison. Most likely Dooly was hoping to raise these rare species for commercial hunting opportunity. In 1981 ownership transferred to the state and the ranch became a state park. The age of the ranch is repeatedly enforced, but as an east coaster, this just isn’t a major selling point. Instead I enjoyed the stories of why this ranch is there and the random items around the ranch.
If you visit the Salt Lake area, I highly recommend Antelope Island. Check out the complete gallery.
Tags: antelope island, beach, bison, brine flies, brine shrimp, buffalo, buffalo hunt, causeway, fielding garr, great salt lake, mormon, salinity, salt lake, scenery, sea monkeys, Utah