Day 27, August 14: The Great Salt Lake

Day 27, August 14: The Great Salt Lake  (pics to follow)

Deciding to spend the day in the Salt Lake City area presented the problem of deciding where I would find good hiking trails, and if I couldn’t, deciding what to do.

The young woman working the gate at the campground last night had suggested I check out the trails at Antelope State Park, which is an island just into the Great Salt Lake. Either that or I could wait till the Visitors’ Center opened at 8 here at Wasatch State Park. I decided that by going to Antelope Island I would meet two of my objectives – see the lake and find some hiking.

Hot air balloons on the drive

I left camp at about 7:30 a.m. and programmed Antelope State Park into my GPS. It was about a two hour drive, but it was a beautiful morning. I’m camped near Park City, which, if you remember, was the site of the Winter Olympics a time or two ago. The buildings you can see from the highway are beautiful, but I can’t help but wonder about the millions (billions?) of dollars that went into all the construction for that two weeks, and what those buildings are used for now.  I’m sitting in a quaint coffee shop on Main Street right now, and the shops are busy and tourists are everywhere. Very affluent appearing tourists. So the investment must have been worth it.

In addition to admiring the Olympic architecture, I admired the road system that was built for transporting all those people. While I expected to deal with morning traffic typical for a city the size of Salt Lake City, instead I encountered wide highways with numerous lanes that held many fewer cars than they have the capacity for.

The hike went up and around that peak

First impression - birds and smell

No, there were real buffalo too

Climbed out on a rock point

When I arrived at the lake, and began the drive across to the island, the first sensation I had was the smell. It smells like stale seawater and I’m not sure what else. But because my idea is to refuse to categorize any smells as “unpleasant” if I can pull it off, I decided to not complain about it to myself. And within a short time, as I got farther onto the island, either I got used to it or the smell dissipated enough it wasn’t noticeable. I think it did dissipate because I smelled it again on the way back across this afternoon.

I got a map of the hiking trails at the Visitors’ Center, and decided on a six and a half mile hike that climbs 1000 feet and allows, at its summit, a view of both the east and west sides of the island. I drove much of the length of the island to the trailhead, which was located at a ranch.

That is one interesting thing about this island. It has a large buffalo population and apparently a working ranch to manage that population. (It also has Prong Horned Antelope, Big Horn Sheep, coyotes, bobcats, and all sorts of birds.) The buffalo were very visible and I passed huge herds on the way down the island.

After registering at the trailhead, I began the hike. The weather was pretty brutal – the thermometer on my pack read around 90 at the trailhead and 100 up at the summit of the hike. The landscape was typical for high desert, with little green vegetation and only a few trees (none of which were near the trail). I soon realized I would have no shade for the duration of the hike, and wondered how I would feel at the end. I knew once I started back down, it would be better, but I had the three and a half mile climb in front of me.

Along the way I saw a buffalo and her calf standing above on the ridge, but she was long gone by the time I got there. I also saw an antelope up ahead of me, standing still and looking at me. He didn’t wait around to see if I was harmful or not though. I saw a few others along the way too, but they all seemed very skittish. At one point, a large golden eagle swooped closely overhead, hunting I presume, for some unfortunate rodent.

View from the ridge

Lunch time

When I finally reached the ridgeline, the view was spectacular, and I could look both ways and see water. You can understand, looking at the expanse of this lake, how Brigham Young and his followers thought they’d reached the Pacific Ocean. (I think that’s how the story goes, right?) I sat and had lunch at the lone picnic table there, and then began the trek down. It did go much faster but was still terribly hot. I was very happy to turn on the air conditioner when I was back in the car.

Even with the long drive back to camp, I arrived too early to just call it a day. So I showered and headed to Park City to explore some of those buildings and to sit with wifi and a latte in this quaint little coffee shop.

Sunset over the Wasatch Mountains

I have to share one more story. On my way back, I stopped to get a Diet Coke. I was standing in the 7-11, sweaty and flushed from the exertion of the hike, when a young black man, probably in his 20s, walked by me, leaned in, and said, “You look like Halle Berry dipped in vanilla.” I spun around and told him that was about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. I wanted to give him a big hug, so I guess it worked. Now granted, all this hiking has been good for me and I did actually have a little eye makeup on today, but Halle Berry? Not in the greatest stretch of imagination could I fathom being compared to that goddess. But all logic and sense aside, it made my day.

So I return in a little while to my campsite and dream of a world where a 53-year-old white woman can be compared to a stunning black movie star. Oh wait. I guess I live in that world. It is a great world after all, isn’t it?