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There are only a handful of places that allow you to explore the Great Salt Lake. So when I stumbled upon this random Jetty I was kind of excited to check it out. I was even more excited when I learned we had randomly stumbled upon the site of the original Saltair. Which of course makes me want to call this Saltair Jetty, but that is not the official name.
I will cover some of the history as I have come to learn it throughout the post. But here is the short version. Saltair I was built in 1893, the main pavilion burned down in 1925. A few years later it was rebuilt and Saltair II was opened. in 1967 a fire burned down the main concourse and many other buildings, sparing the main pavilion. in 1970 another fire destroyed the main pavilion. Saltair III started construction in 1981 a bout a mile to the west. It promptly flooded just a few months after opening, then the water receded and it sat all but abandoned for a few years. It changed hands in 2005 and is currently a concert venue.
Quick Details:
Length: The jetty is about a mile, 2 out and back. We pushed on an additional half mile to the lake shore for a 3 mile out and back adventure.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop options
Difficulty: DR3. It’s pretty flat and easy going.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No. Closest I am aware of are at the Great Salt Lake State Park which is a fee area. Short of that you will need to find a gas station. There is a Maverick off of 56th west. They usually have clean restrooms.
Dogs? Not sure, but since nearby Lee Creek is no, I am going to assume it’s the same.
Other Info:
To Get Here:
This is approximately a mile east of the existing Saltair III.
The Trail
After wriggling through a gate, and ensuring there was not a 'No Trespassing' sign, we made it to a little field leading to the Jetty.
Somebody has driven through here.
Antelope Island.
Stansbury Island. And the little connector jetty that will take us to the main jetty.
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Panoramic.
Almost to the jetty.
The Kennecott Smelter Stack. Tallest man made structure west of the Mississippi.
Antelope Island.
Stansbury Island.
Random little stream between the ponds on either side.
The smelter stack again.
Antelope Island.
A patch of snow.
What?? This is where Saltair was? NEAT!!!! It’s a shame the sign has been vandalized so much. Its hard to read.
As much as I can make out. Note, there could be a few errors due to being super hard to read.
“Welcome To Saltair
The Coney Island of the West.
Built in 1893 by the Church of Jesus Christ
Latter Day Saints to be used for recreation. Saltair’s main
attraction was swimming in the Salt Lake but
visitors also went for the Ferris wheel, midway games, boat
rides, and the worlds largest dance floor
While rebuilt upon the original footers of the first resort,
the second Saltair never regained it’s former popularity.
The Great depression, additional fires, and receding lakes
Levels, which in 1933 left it a half mile from the water, led
to Saltair closing down for good after the 1938 season.
Look but don’t take
What’s left of these two establishments is now an
Archeological site managed by the State of Utah’s
Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
Utah code 9-8-305 prohibits metal detecting and other
looting activities and is punishable by fines and a Class B
Misdemeanor. To report looting please call (801) 538-5540”
“Burned 1925” (referring to the first one) “Burned 1970” (Referring to Saltair II.)
The Wikipedia article helped me fix some date errors haha.
Saltair III of to the west.
Also, I think the original jetty started a little further west than we did. I might have to come back and check that part out.
Now we are on the main jetty and there is some crumbling remains of a road of some sort.
Some moody clouds. Luckily they decided to hold the rain until we were back in the car and heading back home. Thank you clouds!
More crumbling asphalt.
Some kind of remains.
Continuing along the jetty.
Little closer to the remains.
Mountains to the east.
Neat eye of blue skies amongst the storm clouds.
The ruins again.
Some random cement barriers.
More crumbling asphalt.
With a cement liner.
Different looking cement wall. I wonder if this might be original.
Light coming through that one little bit of clouds.
Closer.
Continuing along.
Random pillars.
Continuing northish.
This random post loosely resembled a person for a minute haha.
The smelter stack again.
Random pottery.
More posts.
Brooding clouds.
Antelope Island.
Stansbury Island.
Continuing along.
Burned board. Just a reminder, it burned down.
Some of the old pier.
Getting closer.
With some clouds.
Lots of support beams.
Random rock in one of them.
More support beams.
Here is an image from Wikipedia I found of Saltair I, circa 1900. It’s really hard to tell for sure, but I suspect we are seeing some of the support beams from just before the main pavilion. And before long I think we will hit the remains of the end of the pier to the left.
Some of them do look quite burned.
The first Saltair was completed in 1983. As a joint effort before the LDS Church and Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway (later renamed as the Salt Lake, Garfield, and Western Railway (SLGW). They still exist, but do not have any lines out here anymore (the sign left out the railroad bit). The building was designed by famous architect Richard K.A. Kletting. Whom one of the peaks along the Mirror Lake Highway is named for. Saltair I rested on over 2000 posts and pilings (some of which we are looking at right now).
As the sign said it was intended to be the western counterpart to Coney Island and was one of the early amusement parks. For some time it was the most popular family destination west of New York,
The first Saltair pavilion and a few other buildings were destroyed by fire on April 22, 1925
Some are water rotted.
I know its just a bunch of wooden pillars sunk into the earth, but it it absolutely fascinating! These are well over 110 years old!
Continuing along.
Salt water rot.
Nearing the end.
‘Looking back the other way.
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Saltair II, also from Wikipedia.
A new pavilion was built and the resort was expanded at the same location. However several factors prevented the 2nd Saltair from achieving the same success. The advent of motion picture and radio. The Great Depression, and the interruption of the “go to Saltair” routine,
Saltair II had a huge new dancefloor, the worlds largest at the time, it became known as a dance palace. The amusement park became secondary to the great traveling bands, They did show movies, but there were plenty of more convenient theaters in town.
It was also a convenient rest area between Salt Lake and Tooele Valley, as well as to Skull Valley were Iosepa was located. When Iosepa started to be abandoned, as well as the advent of automobiles, bus and train service, it was no longer a needed rest stop.
There was a fire in 1931 that caused over $100,000 in damage. Then in 1933 the resort was left high and dry when the lake waters receded. This forced them to build a miniature railway to carry swimmers to the water from the resort. It was forced to close during World War II. When it reopened after the war there were so many entertainment options closer to home and the public was no longer in the habit of going “all the way out there”. The resort closed in 1958 which cased the SLGW railroad to cease passenger operations at the same time.
Attempts to breath new life into the resort finally ended in November 1970 when an arson fire was set in the middle of the wooden dance floor, destroying the main pavilion. A previous arson fire in September 1967 had destroyed the concourse, entry gate, concession stands, and various other support structures but spared the main building.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but that honestly sounds like an attempt at recovering insurance money for a highly invested, rapidly failing resort. But that is just a thought. I don't know what really happened.
Stansbury Island.
Bits of pottery and glass.
Saltair III as seen on our recent trip out to the Great Salt Lake State Park in January.
Proximity to i80, plus a population growth in the Tooele Valley prompted construction of a third Saltair in 1981. The pavilion was constructed out of a salvaged aircraft hanger from Hill Air Force Base. It was also built about a mile west of the original location. (I am thinking at this point they probably thought the first location was cursed LOL). The resort flooded only months after it opened. Then the waters receded after several years leaving the resort again, high and dry.
Concerts and other events were held there now and then but by the end of the 1990’s Saltair was little more than a memory. Too small to compete with larger venues that were closer to town it was all but abandoned. In 2005 several investors from the music industry pooled together to purchase the building and are now holding regular concerts there.
I went to a private work concert there some time ago 2009ish, granted I believe it was before cell phones started having decent cameras, but I wish I had taken at least a few photos. I can’t imagine ever finding myself inside again. Unless a band I absolutely MUST see happens to go out there.
Moody clouds.
Stansbury Island.
Antelope Island.
Bricks.
Burnt wood.
Some old pier structure that I previously thought was the remains of Saltair. I honestly have no idea what it is, however I suspect it MIGHT be the remains of the miniature railway that took people out to the lake after the lake receded in 1933.
More bricks.
Lots of bricks.
A whole brick formation. I wonder how this held together so well before sinking into the lake, or well, possibly falling onto a dry lake bed from who knows how far above? Or, I guess it might make more sense it was built after the lake receded.
You know, its really hard to piece together what’s what from between 55 and 110 years ago with what little is left, and just what bits I can find on Wikipedia. I’m sure actual archeologists have a much better idea.
Scattered bricks.
Random rusty parts.
Another notice to not disturb or remove anything.
Nearing the end of the jetty.
More debris.
More supports.
Saltair II was featured in the 1962 horror movie Carnival of Souls.
I finally decided to watch it after coming here. I know, bad spooky kid for waiting so long. Anyway, it did show some of the abandoned Saltair II before it burned down, but not as much of it as I would have hoped. but it was still neat to see what it did show. It also featured a few others Salt Lake City locations from back in the 60's. Here is a random reddit thread I found with some comparative images from the movie and 2022 (outside link) which I thought was neat. Anyway, it wasn't necessarily a scary movie, more... unsettling and creepy. But, not at all bad for such an old movie, and and old B horror movie at that. I think the previous oldest horror movie I have ever seen was Dawn of the Dead (1978).
Saltair III was featured in a 2021 episode of Ghost Adventures, due to allegations of the building being haunted. Which doesn’t make much sense due to the current buildings age, and the fact that it moved. But maybe the salvaged aircraft hanger was haunted?
Well, I was curious enough to see how much of the building it showed so I watched the Ghost Adventure episode. I wish it had shown more of the less neat, but still neat building. The big thing that Ghost Adventures claimed is that local native tribes believe that the land is cursed. Which they believe, explains all of the tragedy associated with this buildings on this land. They also appear to have caught a few shadow figures within the building.
They also postulate the possible spirit of "Saltair Sally" which was a nickname given to a then unidentified body found nearby in 2000. In 2012 she has since been identified as Nikole "Niki" Kistina Bakoles, however her death still remains unsolved.
Another thing they suggest might be going on here is something called Water Babies. Now I have heard of water babies before, but just not in the context of the Great Salt Lake. Anyway, water babies are some kind of creatures that are disguised as crying children to lead unsuspecting victims to the water to drown them.
More debris.
Bits of glass.
Now we are on the actual lake bed.
Random bottles.
Mountains to the east.
One of the reasons we ended up on this trail is that the trail I wanted to do was across the very wet and muddy lake bed. Which appears to be the case here as well. However, what is different is that we can see an end to it. So, we kept going out towards that structure.
Made it across without incident.
A case of some sort. It looks more modern than historical, but I don’t know for sure and didn’t want to risk disturbing the archeology site so I left it alone.
Well this was completely unexpected. Some kind of burned down vehicle.
I am thinking it is a semi truck, considering the 3 axels and the placement of them.
I am just trying to understand why it is here. Was it on Saltair 2 when it burned down? Or was it maybe driven out here afterwards and lit on fire? So many questions.
As I mentioned, the pillars here were shown in Carnival of Souls, this was not present then. So, this car showed up sometime after the movie was filmed.
Rusted out can of some sort.
These kind of look like the gas and brake pedals. But you know, I am not a big car guy so I don’t really know.
Or maybe it just got stuck in the beach sand and rotted away.
Another support beam.
Bottle.
The Kennecott smelter stack again.
The cluster of support beams we are after.
We made it.
Again, I really have no idea, but judging by the image of the original Saltair I posted above, I am guessing that this MIGHT have been the end of the pier.
With Antelope Island.
Starting to get a smidge of a sunset.
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Panoramic of Stansbury Island, Promontory Point, and Antelope Island.
Moody clouds.
I pushed our goal out a bit further and decided that we would continue to the shore, or 1.5 miles. I probably shouldn’t have with how late it was getting, but I was really enjoying exploring today.
Antelope Island and Promontory Point.
Stansbury Island.
Continuing across the lake bed. It is a little weird just walking along a big expanse of flatness, and a little discombobulating.
More sunset.
Looking back at the smelter stack.
More sunset.
Crossing a stream of some sort.
More sunset.
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Mountains to the east.
Another stream crossing.
Cracked lake bed.
Antelope Island and a random stream heading towards the lake. I guess this makes up for not making it to the end of Lee Creek.
Dead bird.
So, millions of birds migrate through here. Some of them die. Then of course the very salty water kind of preserves them until they make their way to shore. It’s a little gross, but otherwise pretty normal and natural.
Another short wet section, but we are almost to the lake shore.
The lake shore. Oddly enough when we hit it my pedometer dinged 1.5 miles. Well. I like when the "either or" goal lines up like that.
Dwindling sunset.
Stansbury Island.
Antelope Island.
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Panoramic.
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Mountains to the east.
The end of the random pier.
Where the little stream empties into the lake.
The wonky shores of the Great Salt Lake.
To the east.
Alright we explored, but we should probably start heading back. It is starting to get dark.
The stream again.
Heading towards the lake.
It is much easier to walk a strait line when you have something to head towards.
As you can see from our footprints heading out we appeared to deviate off course a little haha.
More sunset.
The smelter stack again.
Moody clouds.
Little pothole. I still haven’t found the definitive answer as to what causes this here. My theory is a little pebble was here and the sand washed out from around it from random streams, rain, or the lake blown across the beach.
Getting closer to our outbound footprints.
The Bountiful area lighting up for the night.
Back to the pillars that I suspect were the end of the pier.
Closer.
With Antelope Island.
With Stansbury Island.
Our next destination.
Still, so many questions. But it is super neat.
It is similar to the cars you can find in Farmington Canyon.
From the side.
From the back.
Following our footprints back to the jetty.
Back to the jetty. I gotta say, I was happy we made it to the jetty before it got much darker. The lake bed is like the desert. It’s pretty easy to get confused and off course. Particularly without something to head towards. I have pretty good night vision, but it is super dark out here.
Little bit of sunset left.
Debris.
Bountiful.
Salt Lake City.
The smelter stack again.
Back to the large cluster of pier supports.
You can see some of these in Carnival of Souls as well.
Some more of the crumbling asphalt. Its getting a little dark for pictures, but we’ll see what else I managed.
Heading down the jetty.
The smelter stack again.
Sunset.
Bountiful and Salt Lake.
And I am guessing that is Layton to the northeast.
Continuing along. Its a double track path, and I swear every time I saw a minor obstacle and decided to switch sides, the other side seemed better haha. I guess it probably doesn’t really matter which side you do.
Longer exposure showing passing cars on i80 and a plane passing above.
Well, after this it was definitely too dark for any additional photos. We made it back across the jetty, and the side arm just fine. We did decided to take advantage of the remote unlock feature of the car to redirect us back to where we were parked. Otherwise we didn’t have much of an issue. It is quite dark out here. In fact it is probably the closest place to us we go to for dark sky event such as the Northern Lights.
That was the most random and fun discovery ever! I loved the history we got to explore. I am glad we made it out to the lake too, even if it put us out a little after dark. I think I would like to come back sometime with a bit more daylight though. We also didn’t encounter another soul, which is always a plus. 9 out of 10 squirrels. I am taking 1 squirrel because well, its historical and deserves a little bit more information and fanfare. I still want to do some more digging and research of this neat piece of history, but I will post what I have so far. There may be a follow up.
As for difficulty, it jetty is pretty flat, and even partially paved, but it is over grown. After the jetty it is strait up beach sand which is weird to walk along. DR3.
Dogs, I am not sure, but I am guessing that since they are not allowed at Lee Creek they are likely not allowed here either, though there was no sign barring them. Eh, use your own discretion, but personally I will leave them home for this adventure.
