Utah, next part: Great Salt Lake?

[urbpan]

So after discovering that Bountiful Lake had nothing to do with Great Salt Lake, we really wanted to see Great Salt Lake. You'd figure, it being the biggest body of water west of the Great Lakes, that it would be easy. Our next try at it found us at Willard Bay State Park.



It's a very pretty landscape, those towns just north of Salt Lake City.


Everything looks good with the mountains as a back drop.


Western kingbird?


Regular old shield lichen is nicely orange here.


But despite being attached to the Great Salt Lake, Willard Bay is somehow fresh water.


You can't fish in Great Salt Lake--too salty.


We let the sun go down on Willard Bay and decided to try to find the Great Salt Lake tomorrow.

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i think that orange shield lichen likes the salt air.

[gryfindormia.livejournal.com]

Wow, you got all the up to Willard, you certainly are busy exploring. Even with the Great Salt Lake being the biggest body of water west of the Great Lakes, everyone here ignores it. Hates it, even, because on some days it makes the winds from the northwest smell like rotten eggs. The tourists will ignore it, too, once they find out that it's "boring" and there aren't any commercial developments along the coast. It used to be a very big tourist hot spot in the early 1900s, at a place called Saltair (just keep heading west on 1-80, it's just a few miles outside of downtown Salt Lake City), really interesting building and site.

Please tell me that you have Antelope Island on your itinerary. And the Oquirrh Mountains further north, which I'm told are the steepest mountains in the world. And Bear Lake's always beautiful. Also, will your trip only be Northern Utah, or are you going to take some time down south, too?

[gryfindormia.livejournal.com]

Oops. Not the Oquirrh Mountains, those are the mountains you see on the western side of the Salt Lake Valley. I meant the Wellsville Mountains.

Edit: Oquirrh is pronounced Oh-ker, in case you're wondering.

[raie.livejournal.com]

I was shocked when I went down to see the Salt Lake for the first time. It was... disgusting. it was pungent, rank of death and decay, the "water" was hardly anything but sludge. I couldn't stand the smell, has it improved at all?