![]() Land speed record attempts started at the Bonneville Speedway back in 1938 when going over 100 miles per hour was nearly the impossible dream. The Bonneville Salt Flats Recreation Area is world famous for land speed records at the standing mile straightaway racetrack. ![]() During this time of year, the Bonneville Salt Flats is a photographers paradise, because it is easy to capture reflections of the mountains in the calm flat salt water in the foreground. In fact this place does not really look like it belongs on planet earth at all. When the Bonneville Salt Flats are wet during the winter season, the landscape does look surreal. As can be imagined, any vehicle that drives through the salt slush will quickly turn into a rust bucket, so it is best to stay on the dry pavement during the winter months. Driving a car on the Bonneville Salt Flats during the wet winter season is not recommended, because the wet salt is like deep slush. Winter is one of the best times of year to view the Bonneville Salt Flats, because this area returns to its natural state. The snow from winter storms melts because of the salt surface, no matter how cold the temperatures are. Just keep an eye out for the Salt Flats Café and you are there!Īs can be seen in the photos, the Bonneville Salt Flats looks like a lake during the winter season. The access road to the Bonneville Salt Flats Recreation Area is fairly easy to spot from the highway as one approaches the Nevada Border near Wendover. People are welcome to drive on the salt flats in the recreation area and this is also where the Bonneville Speedway is located. Access to the recreational areas is free of charge. The Bonneville Salt Flats multi use designation also includes recreation. The concrete barriers offer shade during the hot summer months and relief from the high winds during the winter storm season. This roadside attraction offers facilities and picnic areas. One of the best places to view the salt flats environment while driving along I-80 is at the BLM Bonneville Salt Flats Rest Area. Yes, life actually does exist in this barren wasteland! The adaptation of the local flora and fauna is a study in itself that makes for an interesting read. The BLM Multi Use Designation protects environmentally sensitive areas in the Bonneville Salt Flats where unique ecosystems exist. The salt beds are so deep and vast, that even after nearly a century of salt mining, the level of salt in this region has only dropped by a minute fraction of a percentage point. Salt mining takes place all over this region and this is the source of nearly all commercial salt produced in America. In modern times, the Bonneville Salt Flats is a Bureau Of Land Management Multi Use Area. Basically, the mountains that dot the flat landscape in this region would have looked like islands and the ancient lake was large enough to have tidal shifts. The Bonneville Salt Flats is the largest of the dried up ancient lakes west of the Great Salt Lake. The ancient body of water that created this vast salt bed was called Lake Bonneville and it can be difficult to imagine just how big this lake must have been long ago. This entire region of northwestern Utah is laden with salt lake beds from dried up ancient oceans and this barren flat landscape is like nowhere else on earth! When looking west from the mountain pass, the rolling green hills end where the seemingly endless salt flats begin. Passing over the mountains at the west end of the Great Salt Lake offers some panoramic views of this vast body of salt water. The views of the Great Salt Lake are mesmerizing and it is easy to be consumed with thoughts of where all the salt water came from in the ancient past. When traveling west on Interstate Highway 80 from Salt Lake City, the road first skirts by the southern edge of the Great Salt Lake.
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