Journey to the Jetty…Or Not

 I was hoping to see the Winter version of this.

My friend Richard Barron challenged me 2 weeks ago to photograph the Spiral Jetty that is located way north of Salt Lake City on the northeast side of the Great Salt Lake at Rozel Point.

I had never heard of it before. After doing a tiny bit of research, I decided to make a visit today.

I loaded up my gear, including my drone and started the 140 mile trek to this most interesting “piece of art” that was created by Robert Smithson in April of 1970. However, 131 miles into my trip I came across the sign you see below that did not have its accompanying road.

My journey to the jetty had to be jettisoned.

Naturally I was surprised.  And of course I was disappointed.

Someone else had the same idea on this beautiful day and we both came to the realization that we were not going to see the Spiral Jetty today.

Note the direction of the arrow, as if to say “Follow this road.” Further note that there is no road as it is covered in deep snow.

Even though there would be no aerial shots of the jetty today, I still had a nice drive, with amazing wide open scenery. I was also able to grab some pix along the way.

The first photo below was taken on the way back. It was about 5 miles from the sign above. I was drawn to the creek and its setting. When I got out of the car and walked over to the creek. I could see it must be very mineral rich as it had amazing color to it. See subsequent close up of the water.

There were amazing colors in the stream.

The next few shots I took at the same location. When I got out of my car and tried to go down the bank of the road. I ended up waist-deep in snow. I felt lucky to get back out!  I really like the shots of the animal tracks. I wonder what kind of animal it was. Let me know if you recognize the tracks.

Check out the animal tracks

The desolate road to the Jetty