Serenity - a photo on Flickriver

Serenity

            Antelope Island State Park

Leaving the Tetons was extremely difficult, I didn't want to leave but I had to literally drag myself out of Wyoming after staying there for around a week, I had one more destination to see, Yosemite.
I was in Yosemite just months prior to this trip but on my first trip out I didn't get to see Tunnel View or Glacier Point (noob mistake) easily the two greatest places to go to in Yosemite. So I decided
to suck it up and drive from Yellowstone to Yosemite. I figured it'd take me atleast two days driving but I was down for the solo challenge. I left the Tetons with a sad "goodbye" and headed further west.
As I drove through Idaho I got to see some very interesting landscapes including state parks and National Forests, none of which I really had time to stop and enjoy, since I had an extra day I figured I'd 
head on down to one of my favorite states, Utah. But where should I stop? Arches...Bryce...something new? I decided to skip out on the National Parks and head to a State Park for once, surprising right?
I woke up from my motel just across from the Elk National Refuge just miles outside of Grand Teton National Park and headed towards non other than Antelope Island State Park, I honestly did zero research
on the area but from pictures and what not I always thought it looked pretty interesting. I mean how cool is it that there is literally an unhabited island crawling with bison and pronghorn just miles away
from a giant metropolis.

I arrived on the island around noon, the Salt Lake area was surprisingly awesome. Salt Lake City was what I thought Denver would be like. But I continued on, I only had so much time to see the area. After 
driving down a salt flat sort of cause way for 5 minutes or so (after driving through a neighborhood) I arrived at a AISP toll booth, I forget what the admission price was but it was WORTH IT. If your ever
passing through like I was, go out on a limb and spend a few hours taking in the "island." I paid and continued on the causeway seeing tons of birds...and more birds...and birds. That was about it. The one
thing I do remember is...the Salt Lake really smelled...bad. No way to describe, it was just a bad smell, worse than Yellowstones sulphur. After a while you learn to block it out, just close your windows and
hope for the best. So anyways I continued to drive down this "salt flat" causeway and I was able to see a large sort of mountain protruding out of the middle of the giant salt lake, the closer I got the more
I realized that was my destination.

I finally arrived on the island only to find a lot of the island was closed, it was the off season and it was during the week so none of the food stops were open even the visitor center was closed when I arrived.
But whatever, I was here to see sights, take some pictures and maybe run into an antelope or three. I grabbed my park map and started to explore. Within 10 minutes I saw a bison, oddly walking down a beach...a sight
I never thought I'd see. I was heading down to the Farmington Bay area and decided to drive up the one very steep hill, which is actually a lot of fun. The views from the top are amazing. Its hard to describe Antelope 
Island in a way, it reminds me of the Big Sur sort of and in other ways not at all. On my way back a Antelope ran right out in front of my truck and decided to relieve itself in the middle of the road, but thanks for the
pictures Mr. Antelope. 

I headed down to the beach, and the smell got worse. Once on the beach you can really take in the beauty of the island, I honestly felt like I was on the set of Lord Of The Rings or something, the rolling barren hills,
the quiteness of the area, I was virtually the only one on the island in my 4-5 hours I only seen maybe 4-5 other cars. I walked the beach for a little stumbling upon cool rocks and bison tracks virtually every few feet.
At the point where the water met the sand I noticed a sort of odd blackish sand that I thought was different (At this point I was collecting sand from all the areas I visited) so I decided to go scoop some up to take home.
Getting within 3 feet of the black "sand" I found the "sand" wasn't "sand" at all...it was actually millions...maybe billions of some sort of insect maybe mayflys? And they all took off and of course landed all over me.
Im sure someone was watching and laughing at me when they saw the hoard of bugs flying at me.

After leaving the beach I decided to call it a day, I still had to make it to California the next day. AISP is an awesome place, I wish I could've stayed an extra day.
   

Taken on: September 13, 2013

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Camera: Nikon D300S, f/14.0, 1/800 sec, 112mm (=168mm), ISO 320 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D300S
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	112mm (35mm equivalent: 168mm)
ISO:	320
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
Show full info

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