Lincoln Highway part 1
Day 6
Our first adventure of the day was not for the faint of heart. In order to avoid driving on I-80 to Salt Lake City we were told we could take the paved road of the Guardsman Pass.
This pass is high in the Wasatch Mountains and is closed all winter due to snow and usually opens in May or June. There was still snow in the mountains, but the roads were clear with the exception of a few fallen rocks the size of a basketballs!. I will admit I kept praying no rocks would fall on us as we went by.
Steve was white knuckling it as we drove on the narrow road with sharp turns, no guardrails and steep grades. Luckily, there were few cars on the road as we climbed the 7 miles in first gear doing 12 mph at some points and no more than 15 mph at others. At the summit the elevation was 9717 feet. The pass is 24.2 miles long and typically takes an hour without any stops, but for us it was more like an hour and a half to two hours.
In spite of this potentially dangerous, scary route the scenery was spectacular. I took dozens of pictures, but unfortunately I really needed to be in a convertible. I couldn’t get the camera up high enough to get the full view without hitting the roof of the car. I was afraid if I put my camera out the window I’d drop it down the mountain never to be seen again. So the pictures I did get don’t really capture the beauty we saw.
Once down and back on a highway we made our way into Salt Lake City. I wanted to see the Mormon Tabernacle and the Great Salt Lake.
Our first stop was at Temple Square. We signed up for a tour with another couple and 2 very young Missionary girls showed us around. All Mormons have to take time out of their lives to be missionary’s. These two girls had 6 months left to fulfill their obligation.
The Tabernacle wasn’t at all what I expected. It’s a domed building that needs no acoustics to be heard. One of the girls demonstrated how you could hear paper being torn or pins dropped in a bucket. It was all due to the design of the domed roof. One thing I thought was missing was the ceiling of the Tabernacle was plain off white. I thought there should have been a painted mural like you see in Catholic Cathedrals. Our tour lasted about 45 minutes and it was informative.
The drive to the Great Salt Lake took us an hour from the Tabernacle. We drove through a few small communities before we arrived at Antelope Island State Park.
The park is the largest island in Great Salt Lake and home to free-roaming bison, bighorn sheep, mule deer and pronghorn antelope. The bison are the island’s most famous residents.
Although, the Park has several different camp grounds, hiking trails and other amenities, I’m not sure I would want to camp there. I think I’d be afraid to wake up in the morning and have a bison staring at me!
We left the park and drove to Tooele, which is just outside of Salt Lake City. It was still early in the day and we probably would have gone further, but the billboard stating this was the last motel for 100 miles changed our minds.
Just a side note: It was cool this morning at 40 degrees. I was happy I bought that sweatshirt and Steve did put on long pants!
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