Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake

Antelope Island reminded me of the song,

"Home On the Range."

You remember:  "Oh, give me a home, where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play...."

pronghorn antelope

I once read a comment from a roadschooling mom that said, "My son understands 'purple mountains majesty' now because he has experienced it."

That is how I felt about Antelope Island.  I kid you not.  Deer, antelope, and buffalo roaming about the place.  I felt like I could have been time traveling to the frontier days -- except, of course, I was driving a CRV.

Perhaps my kids would have known the song, Home On the Range, if they'd been in public school ... or taken piano lessons from someone other than an exceptionally adroit 17-year old homeschool kid who had used a crossbow to hang a 40 foot rope swing that he used to leap off a chair on a table on a deck, sail through the trees into a high arc, let got at the apex, do an aerial somersault, and land on a trampoline.    Maybe then they would have been plinking out 'home, home on the range' on the piano and accidentally learned the words.

As it was, that song ran through my head pretty much the entire time we were there, but I can't be certain the younger set -- or the Venezuelan contingent -- really got the same feeling of experiencing a teeny, tiny snapshot of what it might have been like a few hundred years ago.  If it is important to you, teach your kids before your arrive!

Regardless, we were all wowed as we drove around the island, ever on the look out for wildlife.  The antelope were spotted first.

"...only cheetahs can run faster than pronghorn

antelope... Following this herd is like following

a school of fish.  They blend and flow and change

positions.  There are no individuals, but this mass

that moves across the desert like a pool of mercury

on a glass table."

~ Scott Carrier, writer

We were excited to spot a couple of herds of buffalo on our drive toward the historic Fielding Garr Ranch.  We stopped and 'oohed and aahed,' then drove on.  We took a break at the Fielding Garr Ranch for a little 'steer-roping' and a peek-a-boo inside the old ranch house which reflected ranch life in the 1940's.

We saw this buffalo on our way back.

Giving his head a scratch on a rock.

Plodding along.

That there are buffalo on the Island at all is due to the efforts of two Utah men among probably many nameless others.  It was a miraculous save.  The number of buffalo which began around 50-60 million before the European settlers arrived was down to 800 or so by the 1890's.  The ancestors of these buffalo were brought here in 1893 to protect and preserve the population.

Currently, there are about 550 buffalo living on Antelope Island.  In the calving season, the population swells up to a little more than 700, which is the maximum population the island can handle sustainably.

It seemed an odd juxtaposition to be taking a swim in the Great Salt Lake (which reminded me of my sister's swim in the Dead Sea many years ago) on the same day.  The Great Salt Lake is known as America's Dead Sea.  It's salinity varies depending on the depth of the lake, but can range from 5-28%.

Suffice to say, the salinity was enough to sit -- literally, sit -- in the water without flopping around to stay upright and without placing your feet on the sand below.  Truly, you can float happily and comfortably without expending any effort at all.  If you haven't done this before, you really must.  It is a hoot and defies everything we've ever learned experientially about how our bodies behave in water.  The boys loved it and would have bobbed around longer if I hadn't spotted lightning in the distance.

Water that is salty enough to hold you buoyant also has other consequential attributes.  It is salty enough to sting eyes and lips (and sometimes, if I interpreted the cries of a nearby child correctly, other sensitive areas), create some crunch on our skin, and turn the sand into a rough surface of salty stalagmites which were surprising unyielding.

The boys felt prickles and itches as salt dried.

Salty sand.

 As you can imagine, not much survives in the Great Salt Lake.  Brine shrimp and bring flies are the exception.  In fact, as we drew near to the shoreline, the brine flies moved like small black waves in front of our feet.  Can't say I can recall seeing anything like that before either. 

Fortunately, there are showers there for a good rinse off when you're all done playing in the water.  

Be sure to bring change for the shower!  National Parks believe in 4 minute showers and charge by the 40 seconds after that!  (Come to think of it, I bet there are plenty of parents who wouldn't mind an automatic water cut-off in their homes, too.)

Interested in learning more or planning a visit to Antelope Island?  Click here.