When I was last there: June 30, 2018
Why I went: Drove through from Salt Lake City, UT to Elko, NV
Where I stayed: N/A pit stop during road trip
What I saw: A whole lot of white – it wasn’t snow but rather salt.
Driving from Salt Lake City, UT to Elko, NV is a 3+ hour drive and is a mesmerizing albeit blinding one because the drive goes through miles and miles of white salt flats. (I had unluckily left my sunglasses at home.) There are several warning signs asking drowsy drivers to be safe and pull over and I can tell you after about 2 hours of driving, I was happy to pull over to Wendover’s Salt Flat rest stop to take a 1 hour nap before continuing my journey, especially since I only got a few hours of sleep before I hit the road at 6am that morning.
Before continuing towards Elko, a quick check of one of my favorite “off the beaten path” type travel websites, Atlas Obscura, informed me I was several miles away from what would become one of the highlights of my weekend getaway, Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway.
This place is incredible with densely packed salt flats as far and wide as the eye can see, but even more so is the ability to freely drive across this unusual landscape. It was exhilarating driving my rental pick up truck, which I just so happened to be upgraded to from my original mid-size rental reservation, across the salt flats without any other cars around. I was surprised by how smooth the ride was, this was definitely no dirt road, and felt quite smooth like regular pavement except the salt made a unique sound under the tires.
If you ever are driving west from Salt Lake City, UT, take my advice and stop by Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway and do some one-of-a-kind offroading, preferably with a truck or SUV – you will NOT regret it!
GGibberish 