Antelope Island

So some of you might be asking how the heck is Tyler finding all this time to go biking? Well it helps to have beautiful weather and three weeks off in between rotations. Starting next week the trips will become less frequent, however, hopefully at least once a week. I think within the past week I've been biking five out of the seven days. I have to say that it's a great way to keep active and also a great way to enjoy nature. And so without further adieu I present to you Tuesdays ride around Antelope Island.
Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake and also, I believe I read it somewhere, one of the largest, if not largest islands in the western U.S. It's home to the largest population of bison in the United States along with some antelope (weird huh), bobcats, seagulls, and plenty, plenty of bugs! I kid you not these things were like the bugs from hell. By no means where they big, but there were plenty enough of them. The worst is they seemed to only attack while you're actually trying to ride. They swarm around your face, get in you ears, eyes, nose and mouth. They congregate on your arms and legs, set up shop inside your helmet and in you hair and if that's not bad enough, it seemed like just the presence of a few attracted the rest of the colony. And then there's the biting. I didn't get it quite as bad as my brother Chad did. Afterwards his arm was full of little wheels and flares of where the bugs munched on his arm for lunch. If you've ever wanted to see a mast cell histamine reaction his was the arm to look at.


So if you don't count the bug encounter the rest of the ride was pretty enjoyable. There are plenty of trails and loops and they're all intertwined together. If you really want to make the drive out to the island worth it (along with the $9 you have to pay because it technically is a state park) then you'd better plan on spending pretty much a good chunk of the day there. Don't leave at eight in the morning and tell your spouse that you'll be back by twelve...it's just not gonna happen, or be worth it for that matter.
We started at the north end of the island at a campground called Bridger. We started on a trail called the Shoreline loop which basically follows the shoreline...amazing huh. This trail is a single track trail that wraps around to the west of Buffalo Point and then meets up with White Rock Bay Campground. This one way trail is about 2.8 miles. Now parts of the shoreline trail are rated "expert" because there are just tons of rocks that crowd the trail. It made for quite a difficult ride, and actually for a little hike-a-bike. From there we biked through the campground and started along the White Rock Bay loop trail. This is a double track, dirt trail that leaves the shoreline and drops into a flat that, pure perception tells you it's forever, but GPS says it's only about 2.5 miles. However, these are the worst 2.5 miles of the ride, think bugs. That bug spray you bring along that says good for up to ten hours is the biggest farce in the whole history of advertising! Ten hours? Try two minutes! Along this plain it is common to see some bison grazing off in the distance and the occasional antelope. We caught a glimpse of a couple of these creatures off having a good time and wondered how they were doing with the bugs. Maybe they would like some of that bug spray I brought. One you finish the plain section of the trail you come to a 700 foot climb over about 1/2 mile. Again, the bugs do not make this an enjoyable climb. However, getting to the top seemed to help reduce the bug population. The mild breeze blowing at the top probably contributed to that. Once you climb up out of the plain and onto the higher grounds the vegetation changes as well. There are some beautiful wildflowers that grow sporadically around the island and every now and then you'll run into a patch of them. I'd tell you what they are, but really I don't know. So you'll just have to enjoy them nameless, unless you're a botanist.

Here the trail splits into two separate trails. To the left the trail continues along the hillside and around the island, this one is called Split Rock loop. The trail to the right juts west and takes you out to a little overlook point called Elephant Rock. Seeing how we were a little pressed for time we decided to make the quick 1.5 mile and go to the look out. This trail was actually quite a fun little single track that had plenty of rocks to maneuver around or over, although not to the extent that the shoreline had. This trail was pretty rideable for the entire way. There's a quick downhill and then a steep, switchback uphill to go through before coming to the overlook point, but for the most part the trail is fairly level.
The view from Elephant Head was amazing. Living in Ogden and seeing the receding lake levels makes you forget just how big the Great Salt Lake really is. Being on the other side of Antelope Island helped bring that back into perspective. The lake just goes on forever. These next two panoramics were taken from this overlook.


From the beginning of the shoreline trail to Elephant Head overlook is about 8 miles. We decided to head back to the Jeep from there. We came down off Elephant Head and then cruised down what now became a 700 foot descent onto the open plain. The bugs aren't so bad once you're cruising down around 30 mph. We hit the plains again and just sprinted back to White Rock Bay Campground. Instead of taking the shoreline trail back we looped around the east of of Buffalo Point along the road back to the starting. I believe we rode about 15 miles overall that day and took about 3 hours to do it. One thing I would suggest, pack extra water. Chad ran out just after we came off of Elephant Head and I only had about 1/3 of my camel pack left to share between the two of us. While driving back we saw a couple of bison grazing by the side of the road so of course we had to get a picture of them. Those are some big animals.