The Salt Marshes

I have ridden out on the salt marshes 2 or 3 times this summer - probably put about 1000 miles in on these old farm roads. They are in the North-Western corner of Utah. This is the area formerly covered by the Great Salt Lake and home to Promentory point, Golden Spike National Historic Site, ATK and the missle test grounds, and a seemingly endless bird refuge.

Most people would call this huge area a wasteland on first glance, the terrain is hilly, rocky and yellow. The yellow comes from the alkali salts in marshes, and the dried and dead grasses throughout the area.  The roads are poor, roundabout, and endlessly curvy (which makes them a motorcyclist's dream!) I find this area endlessly enchanting and deeply beautiful. I love watching the birds as I ride - the usual are starlings, golden eagle pairs, and falcons, including an ever recovering population peregrine falcons - that feed on the starlings. I can feel them diving and weaving in the air as I do the same on the roads below.

The salt marshes have a very distinct smell to them - salty, dehydrated, and decaying - they barely resemble a marsh at all. After a rain, especially the weeklong fall rains we have had change the entire face of the salt marshes change - they turn life changing. Litrally.  Today the ride on the salt marshes had true marshes, ponds and rivers flowing. The reeds were green and all the marshes had the red and orange of new reed growth around the edges. There were upland and seabirds in addition to the birds of prey, I am used to seeing: ducks, phesants, geese of all kinds, and pelicans. It was like being in Florida for an afternoon. Sea grasses waving and the smell of the sea. I loved it. It's just not something you can experience in a car.