Antelope Island

Park is located only 25 miles northwest of Salt Lake City International Airport and it’s one of the most popular destinations for Utah and Salt Lake City tourists. If you can spare at least half of the day for a visit to some nature parks while staying in the Salt Lake City area, then Antelope Island is definitely your choice!

Despite its name Antelope Island is home to free-ranging bison rather than antelopes. To be honest we haven’t seen any antelope on the island at all! Potentially, if you’re lucky enough, you can also see mule deer, bighorn sheep, antelopes, and any other desert animals. The bison were introduced to the island in 1893, and the Antelope Island bison herd has proven to be a valuable genetic pool for bison breeding and conservation purposes. Bison made the island their new home as it’s covered by dry grassland that is very native to those animals. Sometimes you can see bison freely walking on the roads, but during the period when their smalls are growing up herd moves farther away from the people and you might only observe them from the distance.

Millions of birds take a break in their seasonal migrations on the island banks, offering unparalleled opportunities for birding.

Also, the island hosts great annual events, including the Annual Bison Round-Up where you can even ride with the herd!

There’re several amazing campgrounds with either a full hook-up or regular place, toilets, showers, and a dump station. Campgrounds are not cheap there as they are not in the whole Utah state… Also as Antelope Island is one of the most popular destinations in Utah don’t expect to find any free spots during the weekend and made reservations in advance. Seems we got a penultimate spot with no hookups for 30$ during weekday!

You can double-check the actual prices on the state park official site or make a reservation at Utah state parks reservation system.

This place is highly recommended as one of the best in the area for stargazing or meeting the sunrise. It was pretty windy and cloudy in the evening, so we missed the stargazing activity but the sunrise was really awesome!

We stayed there only for one night and the next day we did some trip on the beach – that appeared to be almost endless as the water level was very low and it keeps decreasing during all last years. We also did a small hike to Buffalo Point with incredible views of the island beaches from the top of the hill, and then took a scenic road to almost the southern point of the island. There’re many hikes of different lengths on the island and your hike decision totally depends on the length of your stay.