On our way to Minnesota from California, Cory and I decided we would go by way of Salt Lake City. Partly because Cory was curious about the atmosphere and culture of a city with such a "unique founding story," but mostly because he wanted to go to a famous genealogical library. Not for himself, mind you, but to brag about our visit to the library to his mother, Tracy, who we knew would be jealous of the opportunity. Apart from the famous Mormon Temple and the Family History Library, we did not find much unique or different about Salt Lake City, compared to other cities, though to be fair, much of the city, the Temple and the Library were all closed. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic after all. So we did not get to fully revel in my mother-in-law's jealousy after all.
We could not leave Salt Lake City however without making an effort to see the Great Salt Lake for which it is named. It was already 2 pm on the day we arrived to city and Cory was looking up where the best area was to see the Great Salt Lake. One of the first things Cory came across was something called Antelope Island, which claimed to have great views of the lake and good wildlife spotting. We decided to check it out before heading to our hotel for the night.
Regarding wildlife there was plenty. However "Antelope Island" is probably a misnomer. There were in fact some Pronghorn antelope on the island, however there were significantly more bison and at least 10-20 species of water fowl. The bison numbered in the hundreds, but we could only find roughly 10 pronghorn. Regardless it was a treat to see these animals. It was the first time I had been so close to bison or pronghorn that I felt, I could just maybe touch them, which made for pretty good photo opportunities. The only other time before this that I had seen pronghorn or bison was when we were moving to California, on those occasions the animals were so far away that my best lens could not really capture a clear image.
I have since learned that pronghorn are not true antelope, but rather a distant cousin related to both antelope and deer but not truly in either of those categories. Given the opportunity I would go back to Antelope Island at different parts of the day to capture more images of these animals. The island is not very large but large enough for the free range of these animals and the island is protected by state conservation authorities, which makes the wildlife more photogenic. Of course Cory and I would give Salt Lake City itself another shot too, I guess.
#Utah #AntelopeIsland #StatePark #Pronghorn #Antelope #Wildlife #Animals #Nature #Photography #SaltLakeCity
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