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Month: April 2011

Salt Flats 100 Mile Endurance Run

The Great Salt Lake Desert covers more than 4,000 square miles and includes the Bonneville Salt Flats which are an expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the desert in Utah.  They are 12 miles long and 5 miles wide covering just over 46 square miles.  Near the center, the crust is 5 feet thick in places.  That is 147 million tons of mostly table salt!  It is the site of some astounding land speed records over of more than 600 mph.

Bonneville Salt Flats Adventure Run – 26 miles

The Bonneville Salt Flats are an expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah.  They are 12 miles long and 5 miles wide covering just over 46 square miles.  Near the center, the crust is 5 feet thick in places.  That is 147 million tons of mostly table salt!  It is the site of some astounding land speed records over of more than 600 mph.  Surrounding the Salt Flats are miles and miles of Salt Mud Flats with various islands poking up.

Map of the Salt Flats showing Speedway and Bonneville Dike
Map of the Salt Flats showing Speedway and Bonneville Dike

I’ve been helping a friend who is working with the BLM to get a 100-mile race approved out in the area.  I decided to go try running a portion of the proposed route.  I took my son, Kevin with me, who is taking up ultrarunning.  For this adventure, we would run along the Bonneville Dike through the salt mud flats all the way to Floating Island and back, a run of 26 miles.  We would be about ten miles east of the famed Salt Flat Speedway, and about 90 miles west of Salt Lake City.