We woke up after spending the night in Salt Lake City and just decided to gather our things and go get lost somewhere. We had planned on staying a few days in SLC but soon realized we had already seen everything on our itinerary. With nowhere to be and nothing to do for the next 24 hours, we decided to explore some unknown territory and drive from Salt Lake to Jackpot, Nevada. On our way, we stumbled upon what looked like an alien world. A sign marked the desolate area, “Welcome to the Bonneville Salt Flats, home of the land speed record runs”. We just had to pull over and explore.
This heavily packed salt pan in northwestern Utah looks like something straight out of space.The area is so barren no form of life can exist, which means you won’t find any bugs, vegetation or animals out here. As you walk onto salt your mind tends to want to treat it as soft snow but in fact, it is hard as a rock. If that wasn’t trippy enough, as the heat rises from the salt it gives the illusion of water where the lake used to be. As you walk out and explore the region you will find actual puddles of water but most of it quickly evaporates. In the summer you can often catch cars racing around on the flats. The first land-speed record was set here in 1935 with a speed of over 300 miles per hour. Since then the record has exceeded 800 miles per hour.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are along I-80, about 10 miles east of Wendover. So if are ever traveling from SLC to Nevada definitely stop at this bizarre act of nature.
Chad can be summed up by his idea of a perfect day: Waking up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains, warm cup of coffee in hand then grabbing his camera and fly rod, hitting the trail to explore some uncharted territory followed by cold beers and campfire steaks. Chad is often joined on his adventures by his wife, Tori, and their dog, Kona.
