Day 38: Antelope Island State Park
Trip Start
Jun 21, 2008
1
23
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Antelope Island State Park,
Utah,
United States
Monday, July 28, 2008
It was easy to pack up today. Just sleeping bags. We headed West a little to Hagerman Fossil Beds NM. This monument protects an area that has rich fossil deposits. Once an ancient lake, the layers of sediment have preserved fossils of the Hagerman Horse, a close relative of the modern day Zebra. The Hagerman Visitor Center is also the temporary Visitor Center for Minidoka National Monument. Minidoka was once used as an internment camp for many Japenese and Japanese-Americans during WWII.
After the visitor centers we drove into the Hagerman Monument a little and stopped at a few overlooks hoping to see eagles and Oregon Trail wagon ruts, but no luck. We found out later that the wagons ruts would have eroded and what we would see would look like gullies that were created from the oxen pulling the carts in the soft soil.
We decided not to stop at City of Rocks National Monument and drove on South to Utah. We happened upon the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah, where the transcontinental railroad was finally finished. It was cool. We saw an exhibition of one of the steam engines, a replica of the original.
Afterward, we drove on to Antelope Island State Park and camped. We had dinner and walked down to the lake - walked in. The lake is very low now and we walked out quite a ways to get up to our knees.
Day 39 - Antelope Island State Park, UT - July 29, 2008 - Tuesday
After breakfast we tried to go for a walk on the Lakeside Trail before it got too hot, but had to turn back shortly after starting because of big scary spiders. Huge spiders and webs strung between the sagebrush everywhere. We knocked some down with our hiking poles, but it just got to be too much. Instead, we went to the Visitor Center and looked around. Then we drove down the island to the historic Fielding-Garr Ranch. On the way we saw herds of bison. We looked around the ranch area - barns, houses, etc. Sat in the shade and had a snack. Contemplated taking a ike, but decided against it, just too hot.
We decided to drive out of the park and into town. We stopped Sonic for slushies (1/2 price happy hour). Then we went to the local library. I found some books about UT and Salt Lake City, and found a campground and made reservations online. Michael worked on pictures.
We headed back to the park, tried to make dinner but the wind kept putting the stove out. So we had cereal instead while we waited for the storm to blow over, but it did not. During the storm and high winds, we saw a herd of pronghorn antelope, flock of quail, many jackrabbits, and 2 coyotes. The wind died down briefly so we decided to go to the Great Salt Lake and float. Bad idea! The wind picked up again and pelted us with bring flies and sand. The lake had waves and was hard to float in. Several waves came up over our heads and got salt water in our mouths. It stung. The water is 5 times saltier than the ocean. After just a minute we headed out. The wind scoured us as we hurried to the shower area. We had just enough money for 1 4-minute shower so we shared. It was barely adequate. Once we got back to the campground we found that the wind had blown our tent over. Michael had to move the tent lower on the hill next to the metal pavilion and anchor it to the pavilion with bungee cords. The wind was so strong it bowed in half of the tent and we were wondering if the poles would break or not. The wind continued almost all night. It was hard to fall asleep, but thankfully no rain. (see the end for a better description of events)
Day 40 - Leaving Antelope Island State Park, Salt Lake City, UT - July 30, 3008 - Wednesday
The wind had disappeared when we woke. It was a quiet morning. We drove out of the park and stopped at the first Starbucks for coffee. We sat thee a while looking at pictures and journaling. Dylan, thanks again for the Starbucks cards.
We headed to the Convention Center and Visitors Center in Salt Lake City, UT. The convention center was busy with a huge scrapbooking conference. Wow, that's a lot of people scrapbooking. Got some info from the visitor center, then headed to the KOA to check-in. We had lunch and went for a swim in the pool, did a load of laundry and stayed at the campsite the rest of the day.
The second chair broke. Guess we will definitely need to get more chairs now. So far we have broken both chairs and the french-press. Goodness.
Better Description of Events
We stayed in a tent at Antelope Island State Park for two nights -
what an experience! We experienced a LOT of wind both nights, but the last
night was particularly strong. We tried cooking dinner on the camp
stove, and the burner kept going out because of the wind. I fixed a big tarp across part
of the metal pagoda (over the picnic table) with bungee cords to try to stop
the wind; it helped, but was not enough. In fact, we were worried the
entire time the tarp was up that it was rip, or a bungee would break,
and that we would get smacked in the head. The stove still would not
work in the wind and we eventually gave up. Cereal and milk - yummy!
The tent flipped over once before we were in it, and the wind was
strong enough to cave in one half of the tent when we were in it. We
tried floating in the Great Salt Lake the last night even though the wind
was strong. Once we got to the beach we realized that the wind was
stronger at the water than at our campsite. The wind blew hundreds, if
not thousands, of brine flies into us. You had to walk with your mouth
closed. The water was nice but very rough. While trying to float, it
was easier than in the ocean, the waves broke over our heads. The
water where we were is 5x's saltier than the ocean and it burned our
lips. When we got out of the water to head back, the wind had
increased. Now, we were chilled by the wind, pelted by brine flies,
and scoured by beach sand. We only had $1 for a quick 4-minute shower
to get the coating of salt off of us. When we got back to the tent it
was 85 degrees and we still had to reset the tent because we had taken the poles out. We ended up moving
the tent and using bungee cords on three corners to secure the tent to
the metal pagoda at the site. It was a wild night and we did not sleep
much or well. In the morning, there was no breeze at all.
On the positive side, we did see a heard of pronghorn antelope very
near our tent site, a heard of bison, bunches of jackrabbits, seagulls,
other small birds, tons of monstrously large and creepy spiders, two
coyotes, billions of brine flies, three bison statues, and one glorious
sunset.
Salt Lake City is next..
Roping a Cow
