Bonneville Salt Flats

Today, after another delicious breakfast prepared by Jen today, we headed west for about an hour and a half to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan, a remnant of the huge Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, and the largest of many salt flats located west of the Great Salt Lake. It is perhaps best known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway. The salt flats are about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide, with a crust almost 5 ft thick at the center and less than one inch towards the edges. Unique hexagon patterns are formed by the freezing and thawing of brackish waters, as you can see in my lower left photo. There are a couple of viewpoints where you can stop and walk out onto the salt flats, and you can also drive on them, though we didn’t. We stopped and enjoyed a sandwich at one of the viewpoints. Despite the sun, it was rather cool, especially when you were in the shade. The plan was to go for a shortish hike when we got back to the SLC area, late afternoon, but my cold was coming out more today, and I was really lacking energy at this point, so instead we went for a more gentle walk in the International Peace Gardens, and then a walk along the Jordan River Parkway trail.
Step count: 9,990