Antelope Island: Fielding Garr Ranch

 Fielding Garr Ranch on Antelope Island is an old historic ranch that features a lot of history and great views of the Wasatch Front. It is a great place to explore the south end of Antelope Island. You also generally have a good chance of seeing wildlife but not always (like today sadly). This year they appear to be improving some of the facilities so we did not get to see everything today. We've been here before but we explored a little more this time.

Quick Details:

Length: About 3 quarters of a mile, depending on what you want to see and do.
Trail Type: Loop de loop.
Difficulty: DR3. It’s fairly flat with some rough spots.
Elevation Gain: Maybe 20 feet or so.
Restroom: Yes. Vault and flush in the summertime.
Dogs? Yes, Leashed.
Other Info: Fee area. $15.00 per car.

To Get Here:

From the causeway, head 11.3 miles south on the east island road. The ranch will be on the left.

Entering the ranch property (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

The Trail:

The shearing barn.

The Sentry. Another fun trail.

Picnic area.

I think this is the blacksmith shop. The construction makes it a little difficult.

This is the ranch house. It appears to be closed off, so we skipped it.

The bunkhouse. The signs specifically said we could still access the area as long we we stayed behind the fences.

The spring House. They built this house over a spring which acted as the islands first refrigerator.

The little forest behind the farm. There is a nice little trail through here. Which seems to have suffered a little damage from one of our wind storms.

Spring.

Fun tree tunnel.

Then you pop out into a field.

Then back into the forest.

Storm damage.

The water coming out of the spring house.

Forest.

The ranch house to the left. The cellar/bunk house to the right.

The sheering barn.

Old stoves.

Upstairs you can see some of the old sheering tools.

The holding pens.

The corrals. They are big enough to hold 1,000 head of cattle or 10,000 sheep. Today I learned that 10 sheep can take the space of 1 cow.

Riding rates.

Log dog.

Wagon skies.

The various ages of the corral.

Adobe bricks vs cinderblocks.

Buckboard.

Small walk behind tractors.

Various farm tools.

Old tractors.

Now we enter the equipment area.

Old plows.

View across towards downtown SLC.

More equipment.

Old mowers.

Pulled out the telephoto to capture downtown.

Again.

I think these are old mowers again.

Information about how combines revolutionized farming.

Some other old tractors.

Threshers.

Bailers.

Wagons.

Silo next to the shearing barn.

Silo auger.

The silo again.

Silo information.

Inside the silo.

The shearing barn again.

More old equipment.

Fun wrangling statues. I think this is the first time I was able to catch them without people using them.

Mechanics pit and a sheep camp wagon.

Sheep camp wagon.

Inside.

The historical stops next to the shearing barn are closed now. There is some cool historical stuff in there, but we have seen it before.

The Sentry again.

Panoramic of all the fun peaks on the south side.

Looking back at the shearing barn.

Well that was fun. It’s a shame most of the buildings appear to be under construction though. And sadly no wildlife today. However it is the first time we have fully explored the historical farm equipment. 7 out of 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is pretty flat and easy going DR3.

Dogs are allowed, leashed. Please clean up after your furry friends.