I finally made it to the biggest island in the Great Salt Lake.
I’ve been wanting to go to Antelope Island for a few years now, but just never got around to it. I woke up this morning and randomly decided that today would be the day.
I had two goals for the trip: 1) climb Frary Peak, the tallest mountain on the island, an 2) see buffalo. I met both goals. The trail up Frary Peak was 3.3 miles long and gained 2,000 vertical feet. I made it in an 1 hour 5 minutes. I spent 5 minutes on top and made it down in about 50 minutes. Total round trip time was 1:59. Seeing as how all the literature I consulted said that the hike takes 4-5 hours, I feel pretty good about that.
Antelope Island. The mountain that takes up most of the island is Frary Peak.
The causeway that leads out to the island. The Wasatch Mountains are in the background.
Looking down the trail from about a mile into the hike.
The upper slopes of Frary Peak.
Looking west toward Stansbury Island, the second largest island in the lake. Looks like the inlet of the sea, doesn't it?
Looking toward the summit.
The government benchmark on top, with a critter.
Looking south from the summit.
Looking north from the summit. If you click on the photo an make it bigger, you can see the trail smack dab in the middle of the photo.
Me on top.
Me and the trail.
A herd of buffalo.
That buffalo herd (from the previous photo) up close. Frary Peak is the mountain in the background.
And then here are two videos. The first is a panorama from the top of the mountain. The second is of the buffalo. [If you can’t see the videos, click here.]
The whole trip took just half a day, and that’s why I love living here.