Great Salt Lake State Park
Arthur St, Magna, UT
Magna, UT
The lake's front porch, a marina and beach where sailboats lean into the wind and the sunsets turn the whole sea to fire.
Great Salt Lake State Park is the main front door to the lake for the people of Salt Lake City, a marina, beach, and visitor area on the south shore near Magna. It is the home of the lake's small but hardy sailing fleet, whose white sails you can watch leaning across the water, and a place where you can wade in and experience the strangest feature of this inland sea, water so buoyant that a swimmer simply floats.
This is the recreation-and-sunset side of the Great Salt Lake, the counterpart to the quieter shoreline access points nearby and the wild vastness of the lake itself. It is easy to reach, forgiving to first-time visitors, and famous for its evenings, when the sun drops behind the water and lights the whole horizon on fire.
What Guests Love
- Watching sailboats glide across the salty water from the marina
- Floating effortlessly in water so salty you cannot sink
- Sunsets that light up the lake and the far mountains
- The nearby historic Saltair pavilion and its concerts
Worth Knowing
- The water can smell strongly on warm, still days, and brine flies gather along the shore in summer
- As the lake drops, the marina and shoreline conditions change, so check ahead for boating access
- The mud and salt cling, so wear shoes you can rinse and expect a briny film after a float
- It is open and exposed, so bring sun protection and water
Details
Magna, UT
Learn about Great Salt Lake State Park
Sailing an inland sea
The Great Salt Lake State Park marina is the base for one of the more unusual sailing scenes in the country, a fleet of boats crossing a lake far saltier than the ocean. The extra salt makes the water denser and the boats ride higher, and generations of Utah sailors have raced and cruised here beneath the Oquirrh and Wasatch ranges. On a breezy afternoon the sails against the pale water and dark mountains make a fine sight even from shore.
The lake's dropping level has made the marina's story a difficult one in recent years, as low water strands boats and closes ramps, and the fleet's future rises and falls with the lake. It is a vivid, on-the-water reminder of how the shrinking of the Great Salt Lake touches everyday life around it.
A lake you cannot sink in
The Great Salt Lake is the remnant of a huge Ice Age lake called Lake Bonneville, and because it has rivers flowing in but no outlet, its water can only leave by evaporating. That process has concentrated the minerals over thousands of years until the lake is intensely salty, saltier than any ocean, which is what makes a swimmer bob on the surface like a cork.
That same saltiness means almost no fish live in the lake, but its shallows swarm with tiny brine shrimp and brine flies. Those small creatures are the foundation of the lake's astonishing birdlife and, in the brine shrimp's case, a real local industry, harvested as eggs and shipped worldwide to feed farmed fish and shrimp.
Saltair and the resort era
Near the park stands Saltair, a domed pavilion out toward the water that recalls a grand era of lakeside resorts. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the shores of the Great Salt Lake blossomed with bathing pavilions, dance halls, and amusement piers, and crowds rode the train out from the city to float in the buoyant water and dance the night away over the lake.
Fire, flood, and the ever-shifting shoreline destroyed the old resorts one by one, and today's Saltair is a later building that serves mainly as a concert hall. But it keeps the memory alive, and standing near it you can still feel the old pull of the lake as a place to come out to, play in, and watch the sun go down.
Birds, sunsets, and the seasons
The lake is one of the great bird stops on the continent, and the south shore shares in that wealth. Millions of birds pass through on migration, feeding on the brine shrimp and flies, and along the beach you may see pelicans, gulls, avocets, stilts, and rafts of grebes. Spring and fall bring the biggest numbers and the best birding.
Summer is the busy season for the beach and marina, warm and bright, though the brine flies and the lake's smell peak in the heat. Winter is quiet and stark, the water gray under the mountains. In every season, though, the reason people linger is the sunset, when the light spreads across the still water and the whole scene glows, one of the finest evening views anywhere near the city.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Magna
Saltair
About 2 miles west
A historic domed pavilion and concert venue on the lakeshore, echoing the grand old resort days.
Magna
About 5 miles south
A former mining and smelter town at the foot of the Oquirrh Mountains, on the metro area's western edge.
Salt Lake City
About 16 miles east
Utah's capital, with a walkable downtown and quick access to the Wasatch canyons and ski resorts.
Antelope Island State Park
About 30 miles north
The lake's largest island, home to a free-ranging bison herd, with beaches, trails, and huge views.