People on the shore of the Great Salt Lake on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.The Great Salt Lake is one of Utah’s many natural wonders, and a lot easier to visit for many of the state’s residents than some of the other national parks and landmarks that make the state famous.
One bonus about the Spiral Jetty is it’s in a portion of the lake that’s so salty, pesky brine flies and infamous biting no-see-ums are nowhere to be found. Dip a toe in this part of the lake’s otherworldly purple water, marvel at all the strange salt crust formations and take a walk to the center of the jetty’s 1,500-foot spiral.
The refuge spans 80,000 acres of marshes, mudflats, wetlands and open water which attract a stunning array of bird species all year long. See tundra swans, mallards and common goldeneye resting in the winter. American white pelicans, black-necked stilts, long-billed curlew and American avocets fly in by spring. White-faced ibis, great blue heron, snowy egret, grebes and Canada geese raise their chicks in the summer.
You can grab dinner or a snack in Brigham City, which is about a five-minute drive away. For more information, visitIf you like camping and boating, Willard Bay is the spot for you. Columns of courting midges fly amongst shore birds and waterfowl including a yellow-headed blackbird in the Ogden Bay Waterfowl Management area on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.Ogden Bay includes about 20,000 acres of human-made and managed wetlands, which serve as a nature preserve enjoyed by birders and waterfowl hunters.
It’s a state park, but don’t expect a Disney-fied experience. It can get hot and smelly there. It has throngs of bugs, especially in the spring. Some might be creeped out by the shrubs chock-full of orb weaver spiders, but others think the arachnids are cool enoughThose with the minerals to visit Antelope Island anyway will also see what makes it shine. It has world-class hiking and mountain biking trails.
The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the preserve’s 4,400 acres of wetlands and calls the site a “bird-watcher’s paradise.” Expect to see stilts, snowy plovers, avocets and all kinds of ducks. The center also has a flat 1.6-mile nature loop, which is free and open to the public every day, with gazebos for resting and wildlife watching. Another 0.37-mile trail circles a heron rookery.