With a storm in the forecast, we took advantage of a beautiful Saturday to ride Antelope Island.
We started at White Rocks Bay and rode a 27 mile loop around the island, with 3100 feet of altitude gain and loss.
We saw a small herd of bighorn sheep. We knew the sheep live on the island, but we had not seen them before.
Salsa was on high alert, looking at those sheep. She was convinced that they were about to attack at any moment.
On the east side of the island, we passed rock formations that have been shaped and smoothed by thousands of years of erosion caused by wind, sand, and perhaps wave action from the lake. The rocks are at least 100 yards from the shoreline now.
The lake level has been as much as 20 feet higher in the records kept since the Mormon pioneers arrived in 1847. The Great Salt Lake volume is down about 50% over 180 years. Today, 50% of the water that used to feed the lake is now diverted for agricultural irrigation, of which about 10% is used for watering lawns and other human use. Some of the decrease may be due to global warming and less rainfall. In any case, one wonders what will be left in another 100 years.
The Sentry is the name of the mountain behind Steve and Salsa. It does seem to be standing guard. The snow-capped peaks in the distance are the Oquirrh Range, which runs N-S on the western side of the Salt Lake valley.
As we completed the loop on the other side of the island, we saw quite a few buffalo in small groups, grazing on the winter grass. When we were within sight of our trailer, 2 buffalo crossed the parking lot, weaving through cars and trailers. They acted like the owned the place -- and they can feel pretty confident that no horse or human will challenge their rights.
It was a great day for all critters everywhere.
We chose a good day, because the next morning, this was the view out the kitchen window!
