Antelope Island: South Island Trail

The South Island Trail on Antelope Island is a great super easy,practically flat trail to enjoy the southern end of the island. Because motorized vehicles are not allowed you have a better chance of seeing wildlife out this way. We didn’t quite make it to Unicorn Point at the end due to getting a little later start than I had planned but we made it about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way today. Definitely going to have to return and make it to the end.

View of Salt Lake City from the island.

Quick Details:

Length: 4 miles one way. 8 miles round trip.
Difficulty: DR3.
Elevation Gain: Not much, some mild up and downs but nothing significant.
Restroom: No, but there is one at Fielding Garr Ranch.
Dogs? Yes, leashed. Strictly enforced. Loose dogs have harassed wildlife, become prey, and have gotten lost and succumbed to the elements.
Other Info: Fee area. $10.00 per vehicle as of 2017.

To Get Here:

From i15 take the Antelope Drive exit in Layton and head west. Stay on Antelope Drive and you will eventually hit the ranger station at the beginning of the causeway. Pay your dues, cross the causeway. When you reach the island, take the first 2 lefts following signs for Fielding Garr Ranch. Just past the ranch is another gate, if it is open continue for approximately 1.5 miles on the dirt road to the small parking lot at the end. If the gate at the ranch is closed, you will add that to your hike.

The causeway (DBP).

We saw 3 kestrels on the causeway today (DBP). Wish I had my telephoto lens in.

Freemont Island (DBP).

Frary Peak looks amazing covered in snow (DBP).

Bison out on the shores (DBP).

The gate just beyond Fielding Garr Ranch. It specifically states hiking, biking, horses are okay, just no vehicles until spring. Whelp, guess we’re hooffin it from here.

Even with the recent snowstorm the dirt road was mostly free of snow.

The Wasatch Mountains are looking postcard perfect with the fresh snow.

Pulled out the telephoto lens to get a good shot of downtown SLC.

Zoomed out a little. I love our mountains.

The Sentry. We did that one last time we were here and considering all the bison on the trail I am glad we weren’t planning on it today!

The mountains again.

6/10’s of a mile later we reached the trailhead for The Sentry. We still have about another mile to the South Island Trailhead.

Various peaks on the south end of the island.

Getting there.

Panoramic of the Wasatch Front. From Ogden to Draper. Incredible.

The South Island Trailhead. For some reason I thought the 4 mile trail started at the previous trailhead, it is where the information sign is located. But after doing a little more digging, I am now certain the 4 miles starts here. Better to do this in the spring when you can drive here and cut off 1.5 miles (one way) from the hike.

The Trail:

Longest intro ever! But we had a mile and a half to walk before reaching the trailhead.

Passing through the gate. Each subsequent step will officially be the furthest south we have ventured down the island.

The old road narrows significantly from 2 lane down to one. But it is still well packed and wide.

The mountains again.

Peaks above.

Looking towards the southern end of the island.

A couple antelope off in the distance.

And some bison.

They seem to be enjoying a game of chase. Oh, and there are some more antelope hanging out with them. I have seen antelope passing though some bison on the island before, but I didn’t know they.. hung out together.

Wow, quite a few of them. I usually only see like.. 2-4 antelope on the island not this many.

Whoa! Out of nowhere suddenly an entire herd is running up the mountain. Cool!

And here come the bison!

Today I learned that bison can …hop.. kind of like boing boing boing. I didn’t think to take a video here but I did take one on the return trip. It’s oddly cute for such a big animal.

They were still quite a ways away but it was really neat to see the small herd of bison and the large herd of antelope. I don’t know if they were moving to an area to bed for the night, or if they sensed a predator (or us) so they all ran uphill. But, it was cool.

It’s kind of like that scene from The Lion King.

The bison eventually settled into a nice flat area while the antelope continued to higher ground.

More antelope. I am pretty sure I saw more antelope today than I have seen total on the island.

I really thought there must be a coyote nearby but after viewing this image I think we might be the predator they were escaping. Kind of unnerving to have this many faces staring at you.

Just noticed a male is leading the herd.

Me taking so many pictures must have freaked out this pheasant enough to take off from his previously well hidden location. Whoops, sorry bud.

Neat peak above. Looks very similar to The Sentry.

While I had the telephoto lens out Downtown SLC again.

The bison again.

Little closer.

Another peak.

Antelope tracks.

Downtown again.

The mountains.

Gnarly tree.

Birds in a tree.

Neat little pass.

Looking towards the south end again. It seems so close!

Mountains above.

Downtown again. It is really neat to see it from this vantage.

Looking south again.

The furthest south we got. We had set a hard time to turn around to ensure we make it back before dark. It seems like we’re so close, but we were not. Oh well, we’ll just have to come back another time.

Another neat peak.

Oh neat I can see the old dam in front of Holbrook Canyon. I’m not sure, but I think we are just as far south on the island as we live on the other side of the lake.

The mountains again.

Ben Lomond.

Another neat old tree.

The Salt Lake Valley.

Back to the bison and antelope.

More bison.

Back to the trailhead. Just a mile and a half to go.

Downtown starting to light up for the evening.

The Sentry again.

The trailhead for The Sentry. Almost back to the car.

Bison and mountains.

Bison and city lights. Kind of an odd juxtaposition. I equate bison to wild open lands, and well, we are in wild open lands, but can see the city off in the distance.

Oh here is where I caught the funny hopping. Terrible quality due to it being dark, but hey, you can see the hopping.

This is seriously one of the easiest trails ever. Along the lines of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail just a flat mellow walk. I really enjoyed the views of the Wasatch Front from this far south. I really cant wait to come back and make it to the southern tip of the island. I loved the solitude and quietness and really enjoyed all of the wildlife we saw today. It’s a little longer than we normally do, and the closed gate added quite a bit more than I expected, but it was amazing. 9 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, I mean.. it is almost completely flat and an old dirt road. nice and wide and easy going. DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leash laws are strictly enforced.