Visit the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah
You may never have heard of the Bonneville Salt Flats, but if you watch TV or movies or read magazines, you have probably seen them many times without knowing it. The salt flats show up repeatedly in car commercials and other advertisements. Scenes from many movies, including "Independence Day," were filmed here. It is also the place where many land speed records have been set. If you're nearby, it is worth a trip.
Instructions
1. What are the Bonneville Salt Flats? In a nutshell, they are a geological and geographical anomaly, the bottom of an ancient inland ocean that no longer exists. The ancient ocean left behind a lot of salt in large area that is extremely flat. The area is now considered a desert, and it is surrounded by mountain ranges that used to be islands.
2. get there: Get off at Exit 4 on I-80 in Utah and head north. Take the first right on Salt Flats Road and head east until it dead-ends. There will be no signs to guide you at this point, and all you will see will be the salt flats all around you
3. What to do when you get there: Mark your odometer. Drive onto the flats. It will seem as if you are driving into the ocean at first. Just do it.. When you get onto the flats with your car, you can drive as fast as you want. That's what people do here. If you head due east, for a few miles, you will eventually come to the raceway, which is marked by small lines and flags/cones. More than likely, there will be official race teams or unofficial racers out here. Keep to the sides and watch them do their thing. No one will yell at you if you don't get in the way. Head west to get back to Salt Flats Road when you're ready to leave.
4. The first thing to do when you leave: Stop at the gas station before getting back on I-80 and use a hose to wash off your car. If you leave the heavy salt concentration on your car for more than a day or two, it will ruin your paint job and start to corrode the metal. If you have a rental car this, of course, is even more important -- if you want to get your deposit back.
Tags: Bonneville Salt, Bonneville Salt Flats, Salt Flats, Flats Road, Flats Utah
