Salt Lake City, UT, and the Sandlot!

Sept 5-7.  Our goal was to spend some extended time in Salt Lake City at Hill AFB, a bit north of Salt Lake City .  That was not to be.   AGAIN, they were completely booked and we got one of the last overflow sites for 3 nights only, Fri. through Sun.  Welcome to the sandlot!

We were here in 2010 and wound up in the same site!  Nothing but dirt!  As many cords as it takes are run to the street behind us to give us water and electric.  What a mess!  Yes, it was just as hot as it was in 2010.  This FamCamp stays busy.  Of course, the base is allowing active duty people to use the campground for temporary housing, so 16 sites were taken up by them.  But that is a real bone of contention for another story.   We tried to extend but since we could only get one more night where we were, we decided to move on and avoid the mud from the incoming rain forecast. 

We had also been to Hill AFB 2008.   The AFB is at the bottom of the Wasatch Range, which makes for a pretty setting.  The third picture was taken in 2008.  It is much prettier with snow on the mountains!

  

You can see the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island from the campground.  

The island has an area of 42 square miles and is the largest of 10 islands were John C. Fremont and Kit Carson during exploration of the Great Salt Lake in 1845on.  It is said they shot a pronghorn antelope n the island and in gratitude for the meat they named it Antelope Island.  In 1893 twelve Bison were taken by boat to Antelope Island, there were 4 bulls, 4 cows and 4 calves that provided the foundation for what is now the oldest and largest publicly owned Bison herd in the U.S.. The numbers of Bison on the island vary between 550 and 700 and the reason for that is that in October there is a yearly round up where the Bison are counted, inoculated and culled to keep the population under 700 which has been determined to be the holding capacity of Bison for the island. Some of the Bison from the round up are sold for meat or for breeding stock.  There are several natural freshwater springs on the island that provide the water for the animals. 

We have driven over to the island on the causeway in previous visits,  and you can really smell the stench from the salt.   It is a nice leisurely scenic drive on the island as you look for the wildlife.  We have seen the pronghorn and buffalo but not the big herds that are supposed to be roaming the island.  You can see the causeway in the aerial photo. 

   

Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and several other Mormon followers, who extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley.  Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints, less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper are members of the LDS Church today.  Immigration of international LDS members, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the Crossroads of the West. It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913.  Before Mormon settlement, the Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute, had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years.  The first US explorer in the Salt Lake area is believed to be Jim Bridger in 1825.  Army officer John C. Fremont surveyed the lake and in 1843 and 1845. The Donner party, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846.

Four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt lake Temple, which would eventually become a famous Mormon and Salt Lake City landmark.  We visited the temple in 2002, but the choir was visiting elsewhere so we did not get to hear them sing.