September 18, 2010 Antelope Island State Park on Salt Lake, UT
Grumpy me, last night, said we were only driving and not having any adventures. “Let’s just drive and sleep at a rest area,” I groused.
We turned in when we saw a brown tent sign. It was in the Big Belt Mountains, and we went down an old highway surrounded by amazing rock formations. There was the Missouri River following us along the way. I had hoped to see it way up there in Montana! In the dark, we finally found the town of Craig’s campground, right by the good old Missouri River.
This morning we backtracked for the third time, this time on purpose. We went back into the canyon with the huge rocks to cook our breakfast among them beside the Missouri River. White pelicans were flying and sitting on the water. Deer were all along the way.
Happy that we had an adventure, we drove all day down through Montana, Idaho, and into Utah. We saw deer and mountain goats along the way. We saw triangle barns – two triangles set into the earth, and hay bales or sod forming the tent like roof. We saw golden fields and rocky mountains.
Antelope Island is the largest island on the Great Salt Lake. A seven-mile causeway supports a road out to the island. The lake has no outlet, so the 2.2 million tons of minerals that come down three rivers into the lake just stay here as water evaporates. Right now the Great Salt Lake is low. We could smell the mud as we drove out. Some of the oldest rocks on Earth are found here on Antelope Island, older than those at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Then there is oolite sand, round particles formed by calcium carbonate coating brine shrimp fecal pellets! Sleep on that one! Good night.