Antelope Island and Mt. Frary, 6596 feet/2,010 meters above the sea level
Antelope Island, Utah (52 mi./85 km. from home)
I had set on going to the island in the morning, however the weather was not friendly. It was rather cool and rainy, so I had waited it out. Later in the day, by 1:30 pm, the sky was definitely clearing up and sunny. So I got myself ready and left for the island at around two o'clock in the afternoon. I had not counted on the heavy traffic on I-15, so it took me a while to arrive at the island, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
It was my first time to visit Antelope Island, and it was interesting to see the causeway connecting Antelope Island to 'mainland' Utah. For anyone who is not familiar with Antelope Island, it is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake. That's right, it is in the middle of the huge lake. The smell as I was driving through the causeway reminded me of being back home in shoreline New Jersey. The causeway crosses over the mudflats, and that is what makes it smell as if it was like a sewer facility.
Since Mt. Frary was my main destination, I did not waste time stopping along the way to photograph views but to go directly to the trailhead for Mt. Frary. To get to the trailhead, one would need to turn left at the main fork at the end of the causeway, then turn left again. There is a sign which will say 'Mt. Frary' at this intersection. Then you will drive for like 5 miles, before turning right onto a steep road which goes around to the left to a gravel parking lot at the start of the trailhead. The views from the parking lot was really nice.
)
)
)
This being midday August, I could immediately feel that it was hot as I was making my way uphill. The first part of the trail, which is steep, also has erosion indentation from water streaming down the trail. This made it a bit difficult to walk on the trail, as I would have to straddle on both sides. If the trail was not indented, it would be a bit easier to walk up. One could notice that the terrain was covered with many dry grasses, mostly brown or yellow. I did not see any wildflowers except for occasional balsam root flowers here and there.
)
)
)
The trail started to level and traverse through fields of wild grasses, sagebrushes and limestone boulders. It was very interesting to observe the abundance of insect life on the trail, which consisted of crickets, beetles, flies and others. There were also some lizards on the trail, but they were not large lizards. Most of them were about 2 to 3 inches in length. I was amazed to see so many lizards scurrying about.
)
)
)
)
)
)
After crossing the boulder field, the trail went up again, and I was taken aback by a manmade stairway. It was like some boulders in step, and there were slabs of what looked like slate forming the riser and steps. Interesting... The trail went up along steep hill going by the Mormon Rocks. It is here when one can start seeing the entire northern end of the island, as well as the Salt Lake and the mountains, as well as a hump of hill called as Elephant Head on the western part of the island.
)
)
)
)
)
)
It was not too long before I arrived at a lesser summit (6374 feet), when the weather started to look rather ominious. Over Salt Lake City and the suburbs, which was some distance off from the island, heavy rain was falling and random lightnings were falling here and there. The weather became much cooler, and in the west, there were some more ominious clouds as well. From the lesser summit, one could see the Frary Peak, which was right in front of me. I tried to continue on the trail, which for some reason went downhill rather than ridge scrambling. After following the trail, it was not clear how far the trail was, so I decided to stop there and turn around to descend.
It was over 3 miles to descend, and a race to beat the thunderstorm clouds back to my car. I didn't run, but rather walked briskly. I was never a fan of running, and I was afraid I would slip on some rocks if I had run. I made it back to my car at 7 pm, and it started to rain again. Perfect timing! As I was driving back to the causeway, I noticed several cars parked on the road, because a herd of buffalos were crossing the road! I got out of the car and photographed them as they were crossing the road.
)
)
My impressions on Antelope Island is that it is a great place to hike and ride bike, but summertime is probably the one of the least favourable times to hike the island. I'm definitely going back there again when it is autumn, and try to summit Mt. Frary the next time. Hopefully there will be some kind of plants by then, and that the Wasatch Mountains will be covered by snow by then. I'm sure it will be a beautiful sight.
About Antelope Island
Antelope Island is located in the eastern part of the Great Salt Lake, and is one of the eight islands (Antelope, Stansbury, Fremont, Carrington, Gunnison, Dolphin, Bird and Badger Islands) in the Salt Lake. Antelope Island is connected to mainland Utah via the causeway off Rt 127 (W1700S Syracuse, Utah). The island's superficity includes 28,022 acres, and is 15 miles long and 4,5 miles wide. Some of the rocks found at the Farmington Canyon complex are said to be older (2.7 billion years old) than the rock at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. These rocks compromises two-thirds of the island. The island is well known to be home to about 500 to 700 American bisons, as well as to other mammals such as bobcats, coyotes, pronghorns reptiles, mule deers, shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors and chukars.
Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake western of the Mississippi River, and a remainder of what used to be called Lake Bonneville which covered more than 20,000 square miles in prehistoric times. Today, Salt Lake covers 1,700 square miles (75 miles long and 28 miles wide), a tenth of what was Lake Bonneville. Four rivers drains into the lake, and the lake has no outlet, thus relying on evaporation. Due to the evaporation process, it makes the lake salty, and the salinity rate can range from 4 to 28 percent. Each year, salt mining industries extracts about two million tons of salt per year from the lake. The lake hosts approximately 250 species of birds each year.
