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Link to video: Bonneville Salt Flats (only about 1 1/2 minutes long)
Located in Northwestern Utah, the Bonneville Salt Flats are known to racers and race fans around the world. The racing section is about 12 miles long, 5 miles wide, and over 30,000 acres, which makes it perfect to attempt land speed records in a car of their choosing.
We timed our visit to coincide with one of the races, but Mother Nature had other plans. It rained before the race, so the event was canceled. The salt was too wet and soft to race on. Oh well, Que sera, sera.
Since we were already in Salt Lake City, we decided to take a drive out to the Salt Flats anyway, because who knows if or when we'll ever be around here again. Heading west from Salt Lake City towards the Nevada border, you almost immediately come upon the beginning of the salt bed. We passed by a Morton Salt processing plant with mountains of salt outside waiting to be processed and thousands of 50 lb bags waiting to be shipped.
Soon you are surrounded by salt as far as you can see on both sides of I-80. The red outline on the left side of the map below shows the location of the speedway. It doesn't look like much on the map, but that drive was about 2 hours from the city to the speedway.
We finally arrived and with no racing happening, there is not much to do there. We drove down to the end of the road where the speedway begins to see what we could see, which was nothing but salt.
We were a bit hesitant about taking Romin out onto the salt for fear of getting stuck in the soft salt, but we watched a few cars and trucks playing around out there and decided it would be okay.
Those of us who are from the northern United States are used to walking on frozen lakes and ponds in the winter and being mindful of cracks in the ice. The wet salt bed looks just like a frozen ice lake complete with cracks and it took a few minutes to convince my brain that I was walking on solid ground!
We drove around a bit, had some fun on the salt, and came upon a spot with standing water that provided a great reflection of Romin. Pete took some shots and we hung around for a while before leaving and taking Romin to a much-needed car wash to get all the salt off.
All-in-all, it was a fun day. Would we have liked to see some racing? Of course, but you make the most of what the universe sends you and have fun in the process.
Until next time,
Peace & Love
Pete & Lori
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