Return to the lake

Part of the lake’s allure at the start of the 20th century was a widespread belief that its waters held unique, even magical properties that could promote health and potentially even cure disease. The lake’s healing powers were known long before the Mormon pioneers discovered them, notes Darren Parry, former chairman, Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, whose creation story comes from the lake, he says.

“As long as I can remember, the lake and the environment around the lake has been something that was sacred to us,” he said at a Great Salt Lake Collaborative event last year. “My grandmother always talked about the healing properties of the Great Salt Lake and how those waters healed.”

Back in its heyday, wealthy guests enjoyed multi-day Great Salt Lake cruises and even nature tours of the lake’s islands. For those who couldn’t afford a cruise, there were always fireworks, lemonade and baseball for the Fourth of July — tickets sold for a quarter each. The largest resort on the lake, Saltair, was modeled after Coney Island, with roller coasters and hot dogs and dance halls so large they had a band on each end, Shearer says.

But the post-war prosperity after World War II meant more Utahns could afford a car and take their summer recreation elsewhere, to see far-off natural wonders that by then seemed far more novel than the lake deemed by Brigham Young the “ninth wonder of the world,” Shearer says.  Although the roller coasters have since been decommissioned, Utahns today are discovering the lake’s briny water is still quite special.

“The water is so dense, you can come out here and sail doing 5 to 7 knots of speed in perfect glass water, because it takes more wind to kick up waves,” Shearer says. “The other thing is the quietness. You don’t see the city out there. You see the islands, the wildlife, the birds, and you feel one with nature. And you don’t get that a lot of other places you go sailing where there’s more noise and human interaction. It really is a magical place.”

The lake may not command the center of recreational attention the way it used to, he says, but it has slowly come back — as have a variety of ways to enjoy the lake. The Great Salt Lake State Park visitor center offers tours of the lake’s natural and historic sites, campsites dot the shoreline and opportunities for kayaking, an entry-level activity for those interested in watersports, are abundant.

And Shearer believes there is growing potential for some of the recreational activities of days gone by to return to the lake. Roller coasters might be a bit of a stretch — relatively small changes in the amount of water in the lake cause dramatic shifts in shoreline, which makes siting permanent beachfront infrastructure rather difficult. Other attractions like sunset cruises with on-board dining might be more realistic, he says. In fact they may already be on their way back.

Tours offered by Exclusive Excursions have proven so popular since launching two years ago that the company had to buy a second tour boat to accommodate demand, Shearer says, and they’re talking about adding a third next year. For those looking to get out on the water without a boat of their own, the tour company also rents out paddle boards. And though it might not be exactly the same as the moonlight cruises of days gone by, Shearer says the state park has initiated “full moon walks” during the spring and summer months that have proven very popular. Still other opportunities wait in the wings, Shearer says. He’d love to see sailing lessons return in force to the lake, and he believes there is room for partnerships with more food vendors and the like. But on the whole, he says, he’s rather mystified by people who haven’t conceptualized the lake’s potential recreational appeal.

“When Covid hit, people thought [tourism] would calm down, but it was just the opposite,” he says. “I even get it here at the marina when the sailing community comes in. People ask ‘What are you doing now?’ And I say what are you talking about, we are as busy as ever.”

A global destination

As an avid bird watcher and a member of the Great Salt lake Audubon board, Jeanne Le Ber is no stranger to international travel. Le Ber has visited more than half of the United States and over a dozen foreign countries, most recently Iceland, all in pursuit of bird sightings. In total she says she has seen 1,574 species of birds.

Even so, Le Ber says Farmington Bay remains one of her favorite places for bird watching. One bird in particular — the American Avocet — keeps her attention. She calls it her “spark bird,” the bird that got her hooked on birding.

“It is a beautiful, delicate little bird, and we see large numbers of them coming through,” Le Ber says. “And they nest here, in the marshes around the Great Salt Lake.”

Bird watching may sound to the uninitiated like a calming, meditative practice, but Le Ber and many others love it for the challenge. The goal, she explains, is to see and identify as many different species of birds as you can. Bird watchers keep count and love to talk about how many species they’ve added to their “life list.” And as any one birder’s life list gets longer, travel becomes a necessity in order to add increasingly exotic species.

The Great Salt Lake may not seem to those who live here like such an exotic destination, but for birdwatchers, it absolutely is. “Driving out on the causeway to Antelope Island will take us a couple of hours because we’re stopping to look at all the birds that are feeding,” Le Ber says. They might see her first love, the delicate, rusty-headed, white and black American avocet. Or they might encounter heavy-bodied black-bellied plovers, a stilt-legged marbled godwit or even American white pelicans on their way to Gunnison Island.

“Then we have all the neotropical migrants that come through,” Le Ber says. As the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, the Great Salt Lake provides an important rest stop and food source for birds that migrate over a thousand miles from South America with the changing seasons. “I know people who have seen over 340 species of birds in Utah. I have 320.”

That makes the Great Salt Lake a must-see for bird watchers from around the world who hope to expand their life lists. Le Ber says she was co-leader for an American Birding Association field trip to Antelope Island, where they showed noted birder Pete Dunne from Cape May, New Jersey, a chukar he was able to add to his life list.