Add a Little Salt to Your Diet

June-July 2005

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Scott Baxter

American avocets feeding on brine creatures in Great Salt Lake, Utah.

If you want a truly unique kayaking experience, it may be time to add a little more salt to your paddling diet.

It’s a long day’s drive to the nearest ocean—over 750 miles—yet here I am sitting in my kayak surrounded by salt water. Great blue heron are silhouetted against the sky on top of the higher boulders while double crested cormorants, willets, and a few sanderlings find their homes on other parts of the shore. California gulls dominate the view and the airways. Looking at the snowcapped peaks of the Wasatch Front, I can see the ancient shoreline of Lake Bonneville—a lake that up until about 14,000 years ago occupied 20,000 square miles of the Great Basin. I am in Great Salt Lake, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world with water that is three to four times saltier than the ocean.

If you painted a picture of all the things you normally experience while paddling, and then removed each item one by one, you would have a picture of paddling on Great Salt Lake, a lake with no grassy banks, shade trees, or outlet, and water so salty that fish cannot live in it. It covers 1,700 square miles, yet is less than 15 feet deep in most places, and has shoals that recede so gradually that you can wade for 100 yards and still be less than knee deep in water. In fact, it defies all of our definitions of what a lake should be. The famous historian Dale L. Morgan eloquently stated what was and still is the common feeling about the lake: “Lake of paradoxes, in a country where water is life itself and land has little value without it, Great Salt Lake is an ironical joke of nature—water that is more desert than the desert.”

A willet wades in the lake.

Many people define the lake by what it is not, but some have come to appreciate it for what it is. The high salt content of the lake keeps most motorized craft away, so the tranquility and solitude are incredible. The shoals around the islands and shores of the lake drop off gradually, making excellent habitat for shore birds. The lake is host to an estimated six million birds that use it as a stop-over on their migration each year. Annual visitors include about 65,000 black-necked stilts, 2,500 American avocets, and in the heat of summer over 500,000 Wilson’s phalaropes congregate on the lake. They all come to feast on the brine shrimp and brine flies that thrive in this highly saline and algae-laden water. It is one of seventeen sites designated to have Hemispheric Importance in the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network. The birds ignore kayaks, allowing you to observe their natural behavior.

Unlike these migratory birds, other interesting species are deeply rooted in the area. Halophytes (salt-adapted plants) grow in the marshes that surround the lake, adapted to the salt in different ways. Some secrete salt from special glands, others sacrifice some leaves by loading them with salt and letting them die and fall off. Pickleweed and iodine bush are some of the more common.

Kayaking is a great way to enjoy this natural wonder. Every trip reveals a new mystery. Even the sand is different on the lake, actually the result of a growing rock. It starts with the fecal pellet of a brine shrimp or another small piece of organic matter. Calcium carbonate precipitates out of the water, forming concentric layers of rock around the pellet. The result is an oval oolite, like thousands of small pearls.

Oolitic sand magnified.

For an amateur naturalist and curious mind, the lake is a playground beyond compare. I carry a boatload of optics, from binoculars to telephoto lenses to microscopes, that allow me to enjoy and better understand this area.

The lake is hot in July and August, and during the heat of summer, millions of tiny brine flies emerge from their larval stage under the water. They are thick on the shore and occasionally can be thick on the water. They do not bite, but for the fly-squeamish, they are intimidating, making May and September preferable times to paddle. Of course, for the typical shore bird, these insects taste great with a dash of salt.

Access to the lake is limited. A combination of the large mud flats, protected wetlands, and private land protect much of the lake from intruders, including kayakers.

Antelope Island State Park is probably the best paddling destination, with arid islands rather like those of the Sea of Cortez. The paddle from the marina to Egg Island makes a nice short sunset trip. The lake generally has spectacular sunsets typical of the desert environment. If you want a longer trip, continue from Egg Island across Bridger Bay, around Buffalo Point to White Rock Bay. Buffalo Point is a fascinating scene of boulders and sea. White Rock Bay has an unimproved camping area with road access and makes a nice one-day paddle from the marina. At the current low lake level, the water is a few hundred yards from the access point in the bay.

If you are up to a marathon trip, explore the remote and rugged west side of the island. The island is closed to landing beyond White Rock Bay so go prepared for a long paddle. Antelope Island is also a wildlife sanctuary. Bison, pronghorn, mule deer, and bighorn sheep call the island home. In addition to the mammals, it also has a collection of intriguing birds. Peregrine falcon, burrowing owls and chucker are a few of the 250 species of birds to be found.

Other access points to the lake include the south marina and State Park just off I-80 on the south end of the lake west of Salt Lake City. It is the only other developed marina, and home to most of the sailboats that play on the lake.

Stunning desert sunsets are a feature of paddling the lake.

For a more intriguing access point, try the Spiral Jetty on Rozel Point on the north side of the lake. To get there, take a high clearance vehicle and head to the Golden Spike National Historic Site west of Brigham City. This is where east joined west during the early US railroad history. From there follow the signs to the Spiral Jetty and enter a truly unique world. There is no inlet in this arm of the lake and it is bordered on the south by an earth fill railroad causeway, making it the most saline part of the lake with water that is 26%-27% salt. That is as salty as water can get. Basalt boulders reach to beaches that are comprised of solid salt crystals several inches thick. The water turns red from the color of the algae that lives in it. This is not a place to practice a roll or be caught in bad weather. Be prepared to carry your boat about 100 yards on uneven ground.

Another fun access point is an undeveloped boat access just north of Willard Bay State Park on the east side of the lake. It may be better defined as a slog than a paddle. This area is very shallow, generally 4” to 36” deep. It is also just south of the 74,000 acre Bear River National Bird Refuge. This is true wetlands with emergent to submergent marsh rich in birds, insects, and mud.

See www.greatsaltlakekayak.com/photos/ wildlife_013.php

© Text and photos by Scott Baxter, who runs Great Salt Lake Adventures in Utah: www.greatsaltlakekayak.com, 801-710-7176.