When you think of Utah, you may think of snow covered mountains, but do you think of salt filled lakes? I have always wanted to drive out to the Bonneville Salt Flats and take pictures, and it wasn’t until our recent Utah family trip I was able to experience this mysterious salt wonderland.
We flew into Salt Lake City, Utah and had 2 days to explore before we started our Utah National Park tour in Moab. We packed white dresses to take portraits with the girls and as a family. When we arrived in Salt Lake City, I mentioned to the girls… “What if we could find some colorful flowy dresses at a thrift store that you could wear on the salt flats?” They were on board with that idea, so Friday morning we stopped by a local Deseret Industries Thrift Store (One of the nicest thrift stores I have been in!) and they they just happened to have 2 pretty dresses that fit the girls perfectly. Best $20 I’ve spent for portrait clothing!
The Bonneville Salt Flats recreation area is about an hour and a half drive West on I-80, almost to the Nevada border. When we got there we saw cars pulled out onto the flat and people were taking pictures, and playing on the hard packed salt flats. We had a 4×4 rental SUV so it was easy enough to drive out and pick a spot. You would not want to drive onto the salt flats if there is standing water on the ground. When we arrived, we had a couple hours before sunset. The sun was still a little high in the sky making for harsh conditions for squinty eyes and reading the back of a camera.
We drove around to the backside and found a magical puddle of water being illuminated by the setting sun and Sarah Beth hopped out and we were able to capture some final magical images.
We made a local friend who decided to follow us around on all our adventures for the rest of the week.
A note of caution
If you drive out on the Salt Flats be prepared to get salt from shoes in your car and swing by a carwash when you get back to town to rinse off the salt that will pack into the wheel frame of your vehicle.
A salt wonderland was a fun experience to begin our Utah Family Adventure. The girls were excited to try In-N-Out Burger when we made it back to town.
[…] the hotel till 1:30 am, so we slept in and then hit a couple thrift stores looking for dresses for Bonneville Salt Flat pictures. We drove around downtown and spent some time walking through the Mormon Church History Museum […]