Salt Lake City / Bonneville Salt Flats

Antelope Island to Wendover, UT | Morning Hike on Antelope Island | Utah State Capitol & Whispering Giant Statue | The Bonneville Salt Flats | November 2025

We began this beautiful Sunday morning with a walk around the campground, and then Curtis went to tag the peak behind the campground while I returned to the van to tidy up and prepare for the day. We honestly hadn’t been expecting it to be so nice weather wise in this area, and so we didn’t really have anything planned to do in the Salt Lake City area. Our original plan had us skipping Salt Lake City completely, and just driving North around the Salt Lake to Ogden, Logan, and then continuing into Nevada on our way to the PNW. But now, we were reconsidering all of that. One reason was because it was so sunny and warm, the other because the government shutdown was still going on and we couldn’t visit some of the National Park administered sites that we had planned to see.

While there were many things we could have done in this area, we decided to stick to the goals we have for each state, and planned to return some day in the future for a more dedicated exploration of the area. We considered SLC and everything East of where we were to be possible places that are close enough to the Midwest for shorter trips, like around the 2 week mark — we had much more time than that now, so we were setting our sights much further away. So when Curtis returned, we packed up and made our way off the island, and headed into the heart of Salt Lake City.

Our first stop for the day was at the Utah state capitol building. Unfortunately the outside grounds had some construction going on so we couldn’t walk the full loop around the building, but the building itself was visible from the front, and even open for visitors. We wandered inside, surprised that we didn’t have to walk through any sort of security, and began our little tour of the displays. We learned a little about Utah’s statehood and history, how they recently changed their state flag, and of course we enjoyed the giant topographic map of the state. I also enjoyed the display commemorating movies made in the state, with the nod to a classic from my middle school years, High School Musical. From here, we continued wandering upstairs and found this level to be quite grand, with tall ceilings, pillars, and giant murals. Curtis’ favorite depicted an image of Escalante (whose expedition will be celebrating its 250th anniversary next year). We hadn’t expected to be able to see so much, and thought this stop was especially worth it.

Next, we drove several miles South to a park in the town of Murray where Utah’s Whispering Giant statue was displayed. After getting some pictures of it, we had a picnic and then went on a walk through the park, enjoying the vibrant fall colors and the mountains in the background.

While there was plenty more we could have seen or done, the boondocking options were limited since the roads into the national forest were closed, and we’re not big on stealth camping in cities. We were content with what we were able to do, and will certainly be back in the future. After several long driving days on interstates and being around people, we were really craving some time spent planted on public land by ourselves. And so, we said goodbye for now to the city, and continued driving West on I-80.

Everything from here westward on I-80 was completely new to us, and I don’t know quite what I expected it to be, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the part that began crossing the salt flats. Being from a flyover state and having traveled extensively around the US, I always stand on the opinion that interstates never travel through the prettiest or most interesting parts of states. And while I know that’s true for Utah too, it’s wild when the interstate literally goes right through such an iconic area that I’ve been waiting to see for so long. The fact that we could just stop at a rest area and go walk for miles right on the salt flats was wild! But of course we didn’t wander that far — not with Curtis spitting all the history he remembered from this area.

Curtis: The Donner-Reed party, when they crossed Utah, were following the ‘newly’ ‘explored’ ‘Hastings Cutoff’ which promised to cut off miles of the California Trail. It didn’t cut off miles and it was barely explored. And after the Donner Party’s ill fated end (a fate that almost certainly occurred because they followed the Hastings Cutoff), very few people continued to follow said route. Which is why we find it funny if macabre that today, I-80 follows very closely across Utah and Nevada the very same path.

We continued on for a few miles, then left the interstate to a popular boondocking area near the Silver Island Mountains. Based on the reviews I read, most people stick to the Southeast side of the mountains and just park off the dirt road, but we really wanted to be in a less popular area, so we ventured up the mountain pass and managed to find ourselves a spot on a saddle between the peaks, surrounded by mountains with no one else around, and even had cell reception which meant we could stay and work and play for as many days as we wanted! But for the rest of the day, we took it easy, and just walked up the nearest dirt road for sunset.