The Bonneville Salt Flats are located in Wendover, Utah, 110 miles to the west of Salt Lake City, which makes them an easy drive for a day trip if you’re in the area. Where in Utah are the Bonneville Salt Flats located?

While explorers in the 1800s going west tried (often unsuccessfully) to cross these massive Utah salt flats, it wasn’t until 1910 when the South Pacific Railroad was built that people started crossing them regularly.īecause of the unique surface of the Utah salt flats, it wasn’t long before they became a desirable location for racing. Starting in the early 1900s, speed racers from around the globe would journey to the Bonneville Salt Flats to race, with the first record being hit in 1914, and subsequent record years achieving up to 600 miles per hour. The Bonneville Salt Flats are the remnants of the evaporated Lake Bonneville from thousands and thousands of years ago, which once spanned a large section of northwestern Utah. Before the lake dried out it was the same size as Lake Michigan! Quick Answers to Your Questions About the Salt Flats in Utah What are the Bonneville Salt Flats? In this post, I’m giving you the ultimate breakdown of everything you need to know before visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats so you can be prepared with what to bring and make sure you time your visit right. I highly recommend making a point to be there during sunrise or sunset to witness how the scenery changes with the rise and fall of the sun. So what makes the Bonneville Salt Flats so cool? Well, depending on the season and weather, you can actually drive onto the salt flats, making it a unique experience that isn’t possible at other salt flats you might visit like Badwater Basin in Death Valley. My friends and I visited the Bonneville Salt Flats as a day trip from SLC during a longer Utah road trip and even with all of the incredible and diverse landscapes that Utah has to offer, it still ended up being one of the top highlights of our trip! Especially if you’re into photography, I can’t recommend a visit here enough. Located just 110 miles west of Salt Lake City, the salt flats are a super easy day trip from the capital. The Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah are a must-visit for anyone road-tripping through this other-worldly state.

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