Directions to the Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake is only 15 miles west of Salt Lake City and is accessible by I-80. It is over 2, 000 square miles, with an average depth of 12 feet and the deepest about 35 to 40 feet. The GSL was once was a part of the massive Lake Bonneville, which hundreds of years ago extended across 20, 000 square miles including parts of Idaho and Nevada. Back then, nearly a quarter of Utah was covered by Lake Bonneville. It was a fresh water lake and was 900 feet deep at the site of where Salt Lake City is now. The lake is famous for its high salinity ( between 10 and 25%, and 6 times saltier than the ocean ), and is second only to the Dead Sea.

I had been telling visitors for 25 years that there was no reason they should go out there. That the lake had a horrible odor, and there is nothing out there. Wow, was I wrong!!! I am now calling it "Utah's Best Kept Secret". I found out that once you arrive at the Saltair exit off I-80, it still smells a little bit, but it's not the lake, it's the wetlands that surround the lake and are home or a stop over for over 200 species of birds. Once you take a left at the Saltair Building and drive west on the access road for 2 to 3 miles and you come to the Saltair Marina, there's no more stinky smell, and it's beautiful. The yearly visitors and 300 + sailboat owners who have slips at the marina know this. I am a huge fan of this massive lake! The sunsets are incredible out there!

Bonneville Salt Flats:
Driving west on I-80 about 90 minutes from Salt Lake are the Bonneville Flats, which has a race track and was the location for the land speed records set before the 1980s. Deterioration in the quality of the salt surface now means that these records are now attempted in a very remote area called Black Rock Desert which is in northwest Nevada.

Visitors

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