Bonneville Salt Flats

Homeward bound...~170 miles west, are the Bonneville Salt Flats. There's BLM land just north of the Flats where we'll stop for the night. As we make our way off Leppy Pass Rd, we only pass one other occupied campsite. Looks like we'll have our pick of any site. Before we arrived, we saw pictures of people boondocking in the area. They had margarita glasses rimmed with salt from the flats, so we thought the campsite would be on the flats themselves. It wasn't, which, as it turns out, was probably a good thing.

We found a nice spot behind a rock outcropping. Across the road were some rocky hill just waiting to be climbed, and Tom and Tank were more than willing to oblige.

There were no people, dogs, or cars around for miles, so while we were here, we let Tank have his freedom.

He took full advantage of this, disappearing for long stretches of time. His coloration was perfect for blending into the dirt, rocks, and brush, so at times, we did get a little worried, but he always returned a tired but happy pup.

The next day, we stopped at the Speedway on the way out. There was still water covering parts of the flats. When things dry out in the summer, the BLM prepares the salt flats to be used for speed racing. Despite the water, we did pass lots of tire tracks in the salt along the way.

The salt flats are actually very pretty to look at; the water is very blue and the salt sparkles in the sunlight. Because of how pretty it is, it was surprising to read about how harsh crossing the salt flats were for the pioneers and their animals. Crossing the salt flats was one of the obstacles that made the Donner Party late for crossing the Sierras.

Tank further confirmed the harshness of the flats by starting to limp almost as soon as he stepped out on the salt (he had run all over kingdom come the day before, until his paws were raw). Not to worry, we got him off the salt and washed off his paws asap. So in retrospect, it was good that our campsite was on dirt, not salt.