Driving through Antelope Island State Park to see the Great Salt Lake is a smelly ride. At the entrance, you’re greeted with a sharp, rancid odor that stays for a few miles.
Fortunately, it looks a whole lot better than it smells.
I’d been wanting to see the Great Salt Lake for a few years and had the opportunity to swing by in the summer during a weekend trip to Salt Lake City with some friends. It’s the largest salt-water lake in the western hemisphere, so it was definitely a cool place to be able to stop by.
5 fun facts:
- The Great Salt lake is approximately 75 miles long and 35 miles wide
- It’s the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River
- The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville
- The lake is too salty for fish to live in
- There’s about 4.5 billion to 4.9 billion tons of dissolved salt in the lake
- Click here and here for more information!
The Great Salt Lake wasn’t really a main component of our itinerary that weekend. We just squeezed it in because it had been on my bucket list for the last few years. Because of that, we only stayed at the park for an hour. Ideally, I would’ve liked to have more time to drive around and explore, but an hour ended up being a decent amount of time.
A huge chunk of our hour was spent driving into the park. We rolled the windows down to get a whiff of the salty air outside as we made our way in. Then after a couple of miles, we decided to pull over on the side of the road for what ended up being one of the highlights of our hour there: watching bison graze. A few other drivers did the same thing.
Afterward, we still had time to get out of the car and walk around. (And it didn’t smell so bad!)
The brief amount of time we spent didn’t feel as rushed as I thought it might have felt. If the Great Salt Lake is something on your bucket list and you find yourself tight on time, I’d still recommend spending the $10 entrance fee to experience what it’s like.
(P.S. We also got to see epic sunset skies on the way out.)
