Bonneville Salt Flats Utah

Amazing View at the Salt Flats

The Bonneville Salt Flats are awesome and unique! There are places you can drive onto them,  and looking around it is white and flat as far as you can see. Occasionally, your focus will end at a low mountain border which is quite the contrast to the snow-covered lake look. 

But 1st Lunch at Red Iguana

We visited the salt flats on our recent trip to Utah. We landed in Salt Lake City and after the challenge of securing a rental car (even with a reservation), during this current shortage, we stopped for lunch at Red Iguana. Besides the cool huge red iguana sculpture outside, the food and service here were great. I really enjoyed this restaurant. It had a very relaxed atmosphere, with a lengthy menu of Mexican food selections. The perfect stop before our salt flat excursion. 

Getting to the Bonneville Salt Flats

After lunch, we drove almost to the Nevada border to the Bonneville Salt Flats, about an hour and a half West from Salt Lake City. As you get closer, the terrain looks like it’s changing to a white sand mixture, but it’s salt. You will also see whimsical art installations along the way on the side of HWY 80. These are very entertaining!

Metaphor: Tree of Utah

The largest and most significant art installation, very near Bonneville Salt Flats, is Metaphor: Tree of Utah-aka Metaphor: Tree of Life. It is a sculpture by Karl Momen of Sweden. This represents his vision of a tree after driving across BSF.  Mr. Momen donated the sculpture to the State of Utah in 1986. The tree, created in the 80’s is 87 feet tall. It is easily visible from the road, but there is a small pull off so you can get out and fully observe, even with the protective fence around it.

Park at the Rest Stop

Next along HWY 80 you will come to a rest stop to park and take in the salt flats. I’ve never seen anything like this even though it reminds me of white sand in every direction or snow. It’s beautiful. It is also very windy here. With the dense salt, you don’t get vegetation growing to block the wind. We were here in July, and since this is a desert, the temps were very high. It was 99° the afternoon that we visited. Stay hydrated! Wear sunscreen! 

Interesting Tidbits

Bonneville Salt Flats are the remains of Bonneville Lake drying up at the end of the last Ice Age. This 12 mile by 5 mile area of 30,000 plus acres is on the Western side of the Great Salt Lake, also a remnant of prehistoric Lake Bonneville. 

The salt flats are from maybe 5 inches around the edge to 5 feet out in the thickest areas. 

It is not recommended to drive on them in shallow areas or when wet to avoid getting stuck or damaging your vehicle. 

Bonneville International Speedway

We drove out onto the Bonneville Speedway area  which is a little further West towards Wendover. This portion is the location of the Bonneville International Speedway where Speed Week is held each August. Speedweek for 2021 is August 7th-14th. Several land speed records have been broken here.   This event draws speed enthusiasts from all over the world. 

There were other vehicles out on the salt in this thicker area. However, as we eased out onto the salt flat, we had that unsure feeling of driving out onto snow covered ice and wondering if it would hold us! We didn’t see the speed track marked off, but we did become more comfortable being out on the salt flats here and enjoying this amazing, out of this world landscape!

Enjoy the Experience

Unless there is an event going on, the main objective in visiting here is appreciating and photographing the unique scenery. I loved experiencing the Bonneville Salt Flats! We highly recommend. Totally worth the drive from Salt Lake City. 

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