Because of our long ride from Tropic to Salt Lake City, we didn’t actually visit the city itself. I know, what were we thinking? And the worst part is… that we passed by two times… on our way up to Yellowstone National Park and on our way back. But both times, the ride was so long, that we were exhausted when we arrived in Salt Lake City and just wanted to go to our hotel. Each time we had to go to the shop as well, so … we didn’t find the courage to go and see the city. But maybe some other time.
So I’m focusing a little bit on the ‘surroundings’ that we did do: Bear Lake and the Logan Canyon. Which is actually more like a ‘scenic drive’ we did to get from Salt Lake City to Jackson.
Bear Lake & the Logan Canyon
Logan Canyon is a scenic drive that cuts its way through the Bear River Mountains. Apparently the Logan Canyon is popular in summer and winter :-): you can go rock-climbing, hiking, camping, fishing, but also snowmobiling and skiing. There’s even a ski resort at the Beaver Mountains. We only drove through the canyon, stopping a few times to shoot some pictures. The Logan Canyon is a National Scenic Byway that connects the Cache and Bear Lake valleys.
Next stop was Bear Lake, a naturel freshwater lake that actually lies on the border of Utah and Idaho. It’s about 280km² (109 square miles) in size and it’s equally ‘divided’ between the two states. It’s been called the ‘Caribbean of the Rockies’ for its unique turquoise-blue color, which is due to the reflection of the limestone deposits suspended in the lake. The Lake is a really (really) popular place for tourists and – what we didn’t know before we got there – the surrounding valley has a reputation for having high-quality raspberries! There’s even a Raspberry Days Festival :-)!
A lot of people go out to this lake, with their boat, to sail or navigate on the lake. I think I also saw some people wake surfing. You can also rent a boat and cruise around the lake. I tried to convince the boyfriend to rent a boat, just to break the time in the car… but he stated that it was ‘way too busy’. I think he didn’t saw how big that lake was… So we didn’t try out navigating on Bear Lake :-(.
What we didn’t do…
There are also a few areas close to Salt Lake City that we didn’t visit. I planned on visiting at least one of them, but we in the end we were too tired, so we adjusted the planning :-). Yes, I can do that.
Except for the Salt Lake itself, there’s also the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the Antelope Island State Park. I planned on doing the latter one, as you could see bison’s there. But we thought we’ve already saw plenty of them in Yellowstone. There’s really a lot to do in the state park, maybe it’s good that we didn’t rush a visit to it. I don’t think it would’ve done justice to the beauty of it. Inside the park there are opportunities to go hiking, mountain biking or horseback riding. There’s a campsite to enjoy the starry night as well. Next to the bision’s you can also see some mule deer here – but we saw plenty of them as well in the National Parks, bighorn sheep (those we missed in the other parks), pronghorn antelopes and so on.
In the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge there’s also the possibility to see wildlife, mostly birds of course, but also some red foxes, coyotes, beavers and so on. Again: this place looks very beautiful, with the wetlands and the grasslands. Maybe a quick visit would do, but not a quick visit in which you count down to get to your hotel room to rest.
So if we ever go back to this neighborhood, I know what I’m planning to see :-).
Around the world in a lifetime 