Salem Lake

 Salem Lake AKA Salem Pond is actually a reservoir located in the small town of Salem, Utah. It is a rather large lake at 11 acres. There are walking trails, swimming, fishing, boating, all the fun things you would imagine at a large lake. But the thing that brought me out here today was I discovered that there is a suspension bridge across a part of it! Since I have so far only found 5 of those in and around SLC I thought we should see this one after a nearby adventure at Dripping Rock.

Salem Lake

Suspension Bridge

Quick Details:

Length: We did a quick 4/10ths of a mile out and back. There is a shorter option, or longer options.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop options.
Difficulty: DR2. What we did was paved and pretty flat.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: I don’t know for sure, but it looks like there is one near the center by Knoll Park.
Dogs? No.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to exit 253. Head east on 164, turn right on Loafer Mountain Parkway. Go about 2.8 miles then turn left on UT-198. Go about 3/10ths of a mile take the slight right fork onto 300 South. Go about a half mile to Knoll Park on the left.

You can take 200 West about a block north to get closer.

Now, we were coming from the northeast, so we did not go this way. Just a quick, FYI.

Some more rural area as we make our way into Salem (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).

Random lighthouse (PSP). There are only a few lighthouses in our land locked state. Most of them being around Bear Lake, where at least they are on water. Like most of the other ones, I would classify this as decorative.

I wish I had taken a few pictures of the main downtown area, but blink and you miss it.

Well this is a neat old house! I have so many questions, like; How old is it? Who built it? But it just appears to be someone’s house, so nothing available. But it is a neat house! There is a similar one in Murray that I have the same questions and thought it was something neat and historical, and well, both this one and that one probably are, but neither are enough to have more information.

The pond (PSP). It has a very wonky shape, but you can drive around it. I just realized it is kind of shaped like a Kokopelli.

Another neat bridge (PSP). I thought we might come back to see this better but that did not happen. However it is a common arch bridge you find on ponds.

The Trail:

We found a large parking lot near the middle of the lake by Knoll Park, but we discovered later there is street parking that would have been a little closer.

Park rules.

Into the park. It is quite pretty, but I was B-lining it to the bridge.

Smaller pond on the west end.

Salem Lake.

As I mentioned the lake is actually a reservoir. It was created in 1851 when a dam was placed along a spring.

Fishing dock and a bunch of baby duckies!

Milkweed.

Ducklings!

Lots of ducks.

We made it!

Despite multiple signs asking you not to, people are climbing all over it.

The bridge again. It took a bit of effort, but I managed to edit all the people out.

From the south.

Looking towards the northwest tip.

Southeast.

The bridge.

Well so far this is my least favorite suspension bridge. It’s old, rusty looking, it shakes, and I have no idea how deep this murky looking lake is. Not to mention it is covered in random people scurrying all over it. Maybe we just chose a bad day. I am not ruling out a return trip, but it is a little out of the way for us.

The northwest again.

Southeast.

Looking back towards the south end again.

So, we didn’t make it all the way to the north end, but I didn’t find any plaque so, no idea how old it is, but it looks fairly old. I can go back as far as 1993 on Google Earth and it is there, so it is at least that old.

According to Google Maps, it is about 125 feet long. It looks to be about 10 feet high.

And according to the one little blurb I can find on it, it collapsed at some point and the main span is now a donated highway overhead sign truss. Which really doesn’t make me feel much better using it haha.

The lake again.

I thought we might walk around the lake, but it was a little too… peopley for us right now. Plus, we had other adventures in store. So just back to the car we went.

The lake from the south side..

They use this back pond area to educate kids on how a wetland works.

The little back pond again.

I am not sure, but I think that is Loafer Mountain.

Salem still has a lot of farmland (PSP).

Well, the lake is pretty, and I do love me a good suspension bridge, but this wasn’t my favorite adventure. I am glad we came out and saw it, but I am also glad we didn’t make the trip out to just this. Meh, 6 squirrels out of 10.

As for difficulty, what we did was paved and easy going. DR2.

Dogs are not allowed, so be sure to leave Fido home for this one.