Spiral Jetty

The Spiral Jetty created by Robert Smithson in 1970 is an incredible earthwork sculpture that is worth the 2+ hour drive from Salt Lake City. You will travel to Promontory Point visitor center and keep following the road and signs until you reach the Jetty. Just beyond the Promontory Point visitor center the road will turn into gravel and dirt. I recommend you drive a high clearance vehicle. The gravel road will wind around on the boundaries of private land but it is absolutely legal to drive out there. Not knowing the road condition beforehand, I drove my Chevy Cobalt in the middle of winter with fresh snow on the ground and made it out there just fine (although I am very comfortable driving in snowy conditions). When I arrived I thought I would be the only person out there in the winter time but I was wrong. I was surprised to see a big truck with chains on the tires loaded with people checking out the Jetty too. The parking lot has enough parking for about a dozen or more vehicles. The short trail leads down to the Jetty but the parking lot offers some of the best views of the Spiral Jetty. If you have extra time, which you should because you traveled the 2 hours to get out here, you should climb the short hill to the north of the parking lot for views of the Jetty and lake. The first thing you will notice is that this place is incredibly quiet. Every now and then you can hear a jet flying above or even a train to the south but for the most part you can only hear your footsteps. The Spiral Jetty was created back in 1970 by American sculptor Robert Smithson. It is 1500 feet in length and is about 15 feet wide made from sand, dirt and basalt rock. The salt water out here is usually tinted red or purple due to bacteria and algae that love the extremely salty water. Construction took six days to complete. Depending on snow and rain runoff from the surrounding mountains and rivers the Spiral Jetty can sometimes be completely submerged in water. The time I visited a few days ago the water levels were very low and I walked along the entire length of the Jetty without touching water.