Since our Travel is currently limited, I decided to explore more of my home, the state of Utah, and I want to show you my favorite places so here’s my Utah top ten. I was born and raised in Utah. So I may be a little biased, but Utah is home to some of the world’s most unique locations. It has five national parks, and mountains that remind me of the European Alps, and has some of the world’s most crazy rock formations.
1. Bonneville Salt Flats
We’ll start this article off at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. Now the Salt Flats are located about two hours, west of Salt Lake City and it’s one of the craziest locations in Utah. It’s thirty thousand acres of mud covered in a layer. Salt, I mean there’s no vegetation, it’s just white all around, except for the surrounding mountains. The salt flats have been featured in many music videos and movies, such as Pirates of the Caribbean. I love coming out here and messing around on the salt, whether it’s set up a trampled in the salt flats or jumping over my car since this all is completely flat. The world’s fastest land record has been set. Here I will say if you do go, be cautious about driving on the salt because if the salt is wet, you will seek your car and get stuck, and trust me.
That is not good, but it was when it rains. The salt becomes one of the world’s largest mirrors. One time I went out here when training I just like spent hours walk-in all over this place. My feet were just drenched in salt by the end of it, but I mean it’s just such a surreal place. I mean the only place that can think that looks like this is the salt flats down bolivia. These are just as cool, and it’s just two hours from my house so definitely recommend visiting this place at least once in your life you’re going to be blown away.
2. Arches National Park
Alright So after the salt flats were head over to one of Utah’s, most unique locations Arches National Park – this is where one of Utah’s most iconic locations is located. The delicate arch when I went it cost about $ 30 to get in as I was driving through the park. I was just blown away by all the crazy rock formations and just created think that it. This is all in Utah anyways. We drove to the delicate arch parking lot and we started at the height of the arch. The trail is about three miles. Long, just keep following those trail signs and you’ll get to the delicate arch when we got there. I was amazed by how big the arch was.
I mean it’s huge. What I thought was cool. Is that there’s this bowl that surrounds the arch, it was pretty icy. So I fell a few times. We had a good time exploring the area and witnessing one of Utah’s most iconic locations. Arches also are home to a lot of other, really unique rock formations, not just the delicate arch so definitely recommend, visiting arches
3. Causey Reservoir
All right, so after arches were in a head up. North to visit Causey reservoir, so if you like swimming and summer vibes, you have to come to Causey it’s one of my all-time favorite places to go and just have a good time during the summer. It’s just an hour's drive from Salt Lake City and what’s cool about this reservoir is that motor boats aren’t allowed on it. So you don’t have to worry about them in the water. It is a prime place to go. Kayaking paddle boarding does some fishing, I mean. Do whatever you want when I go, I usually park in the parking lot above and I’ll hike down the lake with some tubes to float on in the water.
One thing I like about Causey is that there are some cliffs that I like to go cliff jumping off of obviously be careful and check the depth if you’re going to do it sometime, there’s a rope swing set up, that’s fun to go swing out from the water. I mean it’s truly such a fun place and I just can’t recommend it enough during the summer months,
4. Homestead Crater
All right so after Causey, we head over to one of the most unique places to go swimming the Homestead Crater. Now, this crater is a 65 feet, deep, geothermal hot spring that is surrounded by a massive middle-row, dome when you get there, you’ll walk through a door and then go through this cave to get to the spring. There’s some scuba and snorkel gear you can rent when we went there, we just snorkeled and swam around the water. The water averages around 93 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s super warm and when you’re swimming there is just hard to believe that this place even exists. The crater was featured in the movie 127 hours when James Franco fell into the underground pool it cost about $ 16 to go. I recommend adding it to your Utah bucket list.
5. Swing Arm City
Alright, so after swimming in the crater we head over to the middle of Utah to visit Swing Arm City. Now, this is the definition of a dirt-like paradise. Some of the world’s largest natural jumps are located here. I remember seeing videos of this perfect dirt-biking rock formation with jagged cliffs on one end and a perfectly slanted Hill on the other. I just decided I had to come and check it out. So, what’s cool is that you can drive your car out on the dirt there. Now I didn’t have a dirt bike with me, but I just had a good time watching. Everyone else does crazy stunts around me. They were just riding up these massive mud, flat walls, and the landscape felt like it was something from another planet. The ridges and unique formations went on forever.
Another cool place in the area is called Factory Butte, it’s an isolated 6302-foot summit right in the middle of nowhere. The mud flats that lead up to the summit looked like something from out of a Star Trek movie. It’s just such a wild place. The area is also home to one of the coolest rock formations in Utah. It’s his Jagged Hoodoo Rock that shoots straight out of the earth, it’s surrounded by an amphitheater of cliffs, and it creates a one-of-a-kind location. It was a rough drive to get there, but when I got there I couldn’t believe the conditions. The clouds looked like something from a Simpsons cartoon. I mean they didn’t even look real. I love the definition in the rock, with the contrast between the right stripes on the black.
You could see the layers of thousands of years, our erosion at work we explored around the area. The mud was just so difficult to walk on. We walked up to the hoodoo and it was just surprisingly big. If you know me, I love crazy rock formations and I just had a blast exploring this area
6. Spiral Jetty
After exploring the Swing Arm City we head over to the Great Salt Lake to witness the Spiral Jetty now, this may be one of the world’s most unique sculptures. Now, this earthen sculpture was constructed in 1970 by the artist Robert Smithson. I remember learning about this sculpture in college, so I decided I had to go now. It took over 7,000 tons of the Salt Rock to create this viral and extend into the Great Salt Lake. I think it took Robert about nine days to construct this to get there. It’s a long bumpy drive out in the middle of nowhere you’ll get to this parking lot and when we got there, we walked down to see what the hype was all about.
When you get to the center of the jetty, you may feel a special energy. I think it would be a perfect spot to get abducted by aliens jokes aside. It was such a strange yet beautiful place. If you go during the summer months, you might be able to see the strikingly pink water as the result of bacteria algae that thrive in the twenty-seventh salinity of the lake's water. It is the sculptor’s 50th anniversary, so you got to go celebrate and give this bio jetty a visit.
7. Bryce Canyon National Park
Alright So after the Spiral Jetty, we’re going to head down south to Bryce Canyon National Park. Now Bryce Canyon is famous for its crimson-colored hoodoos. I mean there are just thousands of them. I went when it was a little bit cooler because I wanted to see snow on the hoodoos when we got there. There were 30 minutes left before the Sunset and we headed over to the sunrise point. It was. We got an amazing view of all Rice’s hoodoos after we made this short half-mile hike over to a sunset point to enjoy the last light. Before sunset, I mean I was just amazed by then seen rock formations and the combination of snow and the pink sky with those orange hoodoos. I wish we had more time there because you can go hike down through the hoodoos and it’s just cool.
8. Zion National Park
So after Bryce Canyon, you can take the 2-hour drive down to one of my favorite national parks ever Zion National Park. Now Zion is just out of this real pictures and video don’t do it justice. I lived in Utah my whole life and I never understood how just in the same, the landscape is there. I mean it’s home, just the steep red cliffs. There are thousands of feet high. It’s just hard to believe one of my favorite and most favorite places in Zion is the hike to angel’s landing. So it’s about a five-mile, round-trip Ike, that’s famous word sketchy chain trail that leads to the top of angel’s landing, which is over 1,400 feet high. When we did the hike we cross the bridge over the Virgin River and headed up the trail, we went up. Some steep switchbacks then went through this small canyon and finished off with even more switchbacks to get to the base of angel’s landing.
We did it in the wintertime, so there were a few icy spots. It was a little bit sketchy, but not too crazy. What’s just insane about it. It is just there’s a lot of spots where you look over to one side and there’s just a thousand-foot drop. Then you look over the other side. There’s another thousand-foot job and you just have that chain you’re holding on to make sure you don’t fall. Anyways, I did, I got my 360 camera, so I was able to get just every possible view. I got to the top of Angel’s landing, which is over 1,400 feet high and just the view of the Zion Canyon is just so iconic and so beautiful. You could also take get awesome views on the other side of those cliffs.
I mean it’s just such a surreal place. I will say the trail was pretty crowded, so be prepared for lots of people, especially if you do the hike in the summertime. But you know it’s one of my favorite hikes yeah. I just can’t believe it’s in Utah, that’s just so epic and it’s safe.
9. Sand Hollow
Alright, so after Zion we’re going to go make the hour drive south to Sand Hollow. This is one of my all-time favorite places to cliff jump, but this man-made reservoir and it’s just a great place to go boat, and cliff jump. There are some awesome dunes. You want to go. Take a dune buggy up there. What’s awesome about it is it’s usually pretty hot in southern Utah, so it’s a great place to go in the spring-fall, and summer if you want to go swimming and enjoy the water
10. Planet Mars
Alright, for my last location, we’re going to head to the Planet Mars now this may be one Of my favorite places in Utah, so I wanted to see what the sunrise on Mars would hypothetically look like, so I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and I hiked over to this incredible vantage point. As the sun peeked over the horizon, I was just stunned by the pink and orange hues as the light bounced off the rocks, I feel like Matt Damon on the Martian walking around the landscapes. There I mean I couldn’t believe how the layers are the rock that ranges from orange to purple. I mean it just makes you wonder how these places were even created. I roamed around Mars and dealt later in the afternoon, and the colors were just as stunning. The contrast between the crimson red and grayish-blue rock layers, how did this really, I mean, don’t be surprised if Elon Musk starts training for Mars here I’ll have to take a cyber trek out here once they release it.
Alright, well, that is it for my Utah top ten.