Antelope Island State Park in Utah is just outside Salt Lake City and affords a wonderful wilderness adventure. There is untouched, beautiful landscape, the Great Salt Lake beach, bison abound, and a well maintained ranch. The park features very nice and easy trails, a visitor’s center, a beach, a ranch, and a campground.
Make sure you stop at the visitor’s center where children can touch antlers, rocks and more. Exhibits include footage of a black and white movie filmed there, and a tank including the salt lake’s prolific inhabitants.
Beach parking is quite a walk to the lake, but it’s an interesting open expanse walk with a dip reward.
Bison wander everywhere, including near the educational ranch where the original Mormon rancher maintained the herd for the church. Buildings are well-marked, employees are chipper, and roping is sure to keep the kids entertained. Hey, it’s much harder than it looks!
I would suggest this as the first and most important stop near Salt Lake City! If you hit this near Labor Day, DO see their Kite Festival!
http://www.utah.com/stateparks/antelope_island.htm
Sam
November 4, 2011 at 1:17 am
One of my favourite aspects of the visitors centre was their display of a plastic bottle 1/3 full of minerals – the evaporated remains of a full bottle of Great Salt Lake water. Its incredibly salty. I agree, Antelope Island is a great stop if you’re in the Salt Lake area. http://samsplayground.com/antelope-island-state-park/