My parents came to visit during my month-long stay in Salt Lake City while I was completing a med school rotation at the University of Utah. Among our multitude of adventures into the great outdoors was a day trip to Antelope Island State Park. This 42 square mile plot of land sits on the northern side of Salt Lake City and is more of a northwardly projecting peninsula surrounded by water contiguous with Great Salt Lake. It’s really unlike any of the other natural landscapes near Salt Lake City. Whereas the Wasatch Mountains on the east side of the city are heavily forested and therefore very green, Antelope Island is a series of large grass covered rolling hills and plains dipping down into the water on their peripheral edges forming Sandy beaches. The air in the park has the harsh rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulfide similar to that of the sulfur springs of Yellowstone National Park. This takes a while to get used to (and you never really do), but once it’s novelty wears away and it’s no longer the focus of your attention, you’re free to focus on the staggering visual beauty of the park. The landscape is truly unique; words simply don’t do it justice so rather than trying in vain to describe it I’ll let you check out the gallery below.
We spent the day driving and hiking throughout the area, taking in the dramatic beaches, sail boats on perfectly still water, bison grazing on the plains, antelope running wild, horses feeding near fences with the city and Wasatch Mountains in the distance. A small homestead exemplified the farming that took place on the island generations ago. And after a few hours it was time to end our adventure. This was a day trip dominated by visual drama, so the photographic media below are certainly more effective in capturing the experience. But if you’re ever in Salt Lake City, you should absolutely check out the park in person!
