Saturday, my son Cory and I decided to take a drive north to Antelope Island State Park. Antelope Island is an island in the Great Salt Lake and requires entry through Syracuse Utah and along a seven mile road built on a causeway across the shallow lake.
Before visiting the park, we had to bounce around some of the small communities in the Far West area so I could take some pictures of old barns and town buildings. We finally found ourselves at Antelope Island State Park.
Though there are antelope on Antelope Island, the main feature is the American Bison (Buffalo) herd that is maintained here. They wander freely across the island and usually have the right-of-way on the roads. Because of the low lake level (because of the drought) the buffalo have been wading across the shallow parts of the lake and ending up in people’s backyards in Layton and Kaysville Utah. The park cowboys then have to herd them back across the lake to the island by horseback.
On the day we were there, the main Buffalo herd seemed to be concentrated mostly on the eastern shore. I tried to get telephoto pictures of the herd with the lake and downtown Salt Lake City but wasn’t too impressed with the results.
We drove down to the Fielding Garr Ranch on one of the few park roads. We wandered around the historical ranch taking pictures before heading back.
We puttered around until about sunset to see if there were any picture opportunities as the sun disappeared into the Great Salt Lake. We then headed home again.
It was a nice leisurely day.