This past weekend I took a truly fantastic trip to Salt Lake City. My best friend from college called me a few months ago after listening to a piece on NPR about the Great Salt Lake and the fact that, at current rates, the lake will essentially dry up in the next five to ten years. We have to see it before it’s gone, she said.

And so we did. 

The Great Salt Lake has always challenged a conventional definition of what a lake is; it has never been a lake resembling the freshwater Great Lakes. For hundreds of thousands of years it has been like a giant organism breathing in and breathing out. It does not have distinct boundaries and shorelines. Instead over long cycles, the water expands outward over the marshland and desert and then contracts inward, leaving wide berths of mud and dry land. 

This is due to the fact that the Great Salt Lake does not have the same intake and outtake footprint of most lakes. Most lakes have rivers and smaller water channels that bring water in and out, keeping the lake at a somewhat steady level. The Great Salt Lake does not have these conventional rivers carrying water out (there is some limited river water bringing water in), and so the water level is mostly dictated by temperature and rain. When it is cooler and wetter, the lake rises and expands. When it is hotter and drier, the lake contracts due to evaporation. 

The sustained drought and generally warmer temperatures of the western US, along with water diversion for agricultural and residential growth have merged to create the conditions drying out the Great Salt Lake. There has been some reprieve over 2023 and 2024 with rainfall in California that makes its way down to the lake, but it’s not enough to reverse the current trend.

Current conditions are also making the Great Salt Lake even saltier. Its salt content is mostly a geologic phenomenon of the specific place, with tons of salt accumulated over time. Without the aforementioned outflow of water, salt and other minerals build up in the lakebed. This condition has created a unique ecologic place. There are few plants and animals that can survive in the waters. Some of the wetland plants have evolved in wildly unique ways to avoid the toxicity of the salt. At the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, a Nature Conservancy property, we read about Greasewood, which sheds leaves when they have become too salty, and Shadscale, which traps salt in glands on its leaves. The glands then explode when full of salt, resulting in leaves covered with what look like tiny crystals.

Three full days in SLC was perfection. We spent one day on and around the lake, one day in the city, and one day in the mountains. We stayed in The Avenues, a charming neighborhood to the west of the University of Utah campus. We saw and learned about the lake at Antelope Island State Park and the Shorelands Preserve. 

Our day in the city was a full one:

• Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park: A real treasure. Even non-birders will fall in love with the residents at this place.
• Visit to the Maven District: A new commercial area of locally-owned shops and cafes.
• Red Butte Garden and Arboretum: It was a beautiful time of year to see the wide range of native and non-native plants nestled in the hills here.
• Hike to Ensign Peak at sunset overlooking the city: This is the place where Brigham Young and men stood and decided that the valley would be where the early Mormons would settle.

On our final day we headed up into the Wasatch Mountains and Big Cottonwood Canyon for two hikes – Willow Lake and Donut Falls. There was snow on the ground! But it was really temperate outside (low 50s) with brilliant sun.

I’m incredibly fortunate to have been able to take this trip with a loved friend. At this specific moment. A strikingly different physical place offered the space and breathing room to pause, reflect, and reset. 

Sometimes we all need a reset.

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times had an article proposing five alternative, less crowded national protected lands to consider in place of some of the most visited national parks. Their proposed substitution for Acadia National Park in Maine: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan.

Last summer we spent three days on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We rented an Airbnb in Marquette, a college town (home of Northern Michigan University), and a terrific base for a family vacation in the UP.

One day we drove 40 minutes east to Munising and took a 2.5 hour boat ride with Pictured Rocks Cruises and saw the lakeshore from the waters of Lake Superior. Written into federal law in 1966 and opened in 1972, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was the first National Lakeshore. It is named for the 15 miles of cliffs rising out of the lake but the full park is over 71,000 acres of land. If our girls had been older, we would have considered the spectacular option of seeing the lakeshore from a kayak; there are a number of companies that offer different types of paddling packages. 

The lakeshore is nothing less than stunning. Sandstone cliffs display layer upon layer of geologic time while mineral seepage creates the multitude of colors that give the “pictured rocks” their name – red and orange from iron, green and blue from copper, black from manganese and white from limonite. The cliffs have been shaped over millions of years by land, water and wind resulting in varied formations – arches, caves and edges that look carved with specific force and intent.

There is one particular sandstone outcropping that has gathered attention for decades. It is known as Chapel Rock. The rock pillar has stood away from the mainland shore since 1940 when the natural rock bridge that once attached it collapsed. On top of the pillar there is a singular, steadfast pine tree standing proud. Get closer and you will see that the tree remains connected to the mainland by its root system. The sight has tremendous impact both visually and emotionally: The strength and endurance, but also fragility, of nature all bound up together. 

In 2011, Good Morning America named Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan the Most Beautiful Place in America. It beat out Aspen, CO, Cape Cod, MA and Lanikai Beach, HI among others, taking many people by surprise. But it shouldn’t have!

We spent an idyllic four days in the area in June 2019. I would highly recommend it for a trip. The National Lakeshore includes 64 miles of beaches along Lake Michigan, two islands (North and South Manitou), 26 inland lakes and over 50,000 acres of land. The region more widely includes large inland lakes, Midwest-size mountains (Crystal Mountain), and sits proximal to Traverse City and to the beautiful Leelenau Penninsula.   

Some highlights from our trip:

The Dunes themselves are astounding. Many of them are huge and steep expanses sloping down into the lake. From some viewpoints, including many along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, all the eye sees is sand sharply meeting water. Many of them should not be climbed! The park posts numerous warnings of the danger of making it down – but not back up the shifting sands. Each year there are approximately 60 search and rescues and individuals will see fines of $2,000 or more for the rescue effort. For those interested though, The Dune Climb is a designated area for dune ascent and descent. Bring water!

We found numerous beach playgrounds in the area. These were basically a dream come true for our two girls, reinforcing that it’s really the simple things that bring joy. 

The region includes the sweet town of Glen Arbor with one of most adorable independent bookstores I’ve ever been to – The Cottage Bookshop. We also enjoyed a brewery in Frankfurt and hiking trails in Empire.  

Northern Michigan is famous for its cherries. We closed out our time at Sleeping Bear Dunes with dinner at The Cherry Hut, a restaurant that opened in Beulah in 1922. The trip was everything a vacation should be with opportunities for activity and rest while surrounded by water, sand, grass, trees and sky.