Antelope Island State Park

Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, connected to the mainland by a causeway about 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. The state park covers the entire island and preserves a herd of around 700 bison — the largest publicly owned herd in the United States — along with pronghorn antelope, mule deer, coyotes, and abundant birdlife.

The island's beaches allow visitors to float in the hypersaline water of the Great Salt Lake, an unusual and easy experience. The buoyancy is immediate and striking; the smell of brine and algae is considerable, particularly in late summer. Hiking and mountain biking trails cross the island, and the views of the lake and the Wasatch Range are superb. There are camping facilities and a visitor centre.

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The Great Salt Lake is roughly eight times saltier than the ocean, which makes it impossible for most aquatic life but ideal for brine shrimp — hundreds of billions of them. The shrimp, in turn, attract enormous flocks of migratory birds: up to ten million at a time have been recorded on the lake, including the largest concentration of Wilson's phalaropes in the world.

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