Visiting Bonneville Salt Flats

Bonneville Salt Flats, about a 1 hour 30 minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City.
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I've heard of the Bonneville Salt Flats, but didn't really know much about it, or even where it was. Until I made a stop in Salt Lake City in October 2019. As the plane touched down, there was a slight flurry of snow. But not enough snow to cause traffic congestion. Only cold weather, at around 30ish degrees on the day we arrived.

From Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), it's about a 1 hour 15 minute drive. The speed limit along this lonely road gets to an official limit of 80 MPH down Interstate 80. So you can go at a comfortable speed. Traffic on this Sunday was light with the occasional car, but more commonly truckers.

We honestly didn't know where we were going, except that we put into Google Maps on Android Auto "Bonneville Salt Flats". It led us to a Rest Stop which had safe access to Bonneville Salt Flats. From there, there was a shallow lake with very salty water. I tried some. We snapped a few shots and due to the cold weather rushed back into the car. I suspect that when the weather is warmer, people walking into the water because there is a feet washing station.

Before we left the rest stop, we googled around a bit more and found a second stop which we Google Map "Bonneville Speedway Road". It was only one additional exit down Interstate 80 towards Nevada border. After exiting, the road backtracks back about 4 miles towards Salt Lake City along a fully paved road to a dead end. All the while. you're surrounded by the Bonneville Salt Flats. Along the way, we witnessed two vehicles, a BMW sedan and a pickup truck that had gotten stuck off-roading on the salt flats and were being assisted by a tow truck. It's been noted that if you have a rental, driving on the salt flats might not be a great idea. And if you're driving a personal car, you'll want to wash off the accumulated salt.

There were many plaques decorated at both the Rest Stop and the end of Bonneville Speedway Road to remember the salt flats. But there aren't any visitor centers. Turns out the Bonneville Salt Flats are no longer used for speed races, as the salt flats are slowly disappearing. There's much more to learn at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_Salt_Flats.

All in all, we had decent reception with T-Mobile and could search and listen to streamed music on Spotify. It was cold and windy, but an interesting location. Note that for us, there wasn't much to do. We took a handful of pictures, videos, and panoramic photos before heading back to Salt Lake City.

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