Adventure 11: Swimming in the Great Salt Lake

This adventure is brought to you by my friend Chris, who exclaimed, 'swim in the Salt Lake!'

Well Chris, I did just that. And, thank you for the challenge! It may just be my favorite thus far!

Growing up in Utah I always heard about the high concentration of salt in the large body of water, and pictured a swim would result in being covered in granules of salt. It didn't appeal to me at all. As an adult, the picture wasn't quite as literal, but it still didn't seem like something that would be awesome. Well, spoiler alert, it was!

We entered the lake from "sunset beach" which is at the end of Great Salt Lake Marina. The weather was perfect, it had warmed to 75 degrees when I arrived this afternoon with my friend Miguel.

The water on the other hand, cold. Very cold. As we started to walk into the water it was shallow for quite a while. Probably a good 10 minute walk in, and the water was about to my chest, and I was able to experience the full effect. Once you commit, submerge yourself, and allow your breathing to get normal again, it's awesome.

Here's my advice to anyone trying this for the first time. Keep your head above the water. Be mindful of the water swells coming your way, and keep your mouth shut! Because you may just get a big water swell to the back of the head which may follow with a mouth full of salty salt water. Seriously, I almost puked. The heavy salt taste in my mouth was surprising. Also, getting it in your eyes is not pleasant, as you might imagine, so try to avoid that.

It's true what they say, you will float like you've never floated before. That part is pretty awesome. Unfortunately Miguel and I were both in the water, so there are no pictures of the swimming/floating. Since we had to get pretty far out, I'm not sure how great a shot of head bobbing out of the water would be anyway.

The beach we were on is on the other side of this land strip from the boats you may have heard about. Yes, there is a very active community that boats on the Great Salt Lake.

Here I am after the swim, covered in salt, which actually showed up in patches of white all over my skin and clothes. Also, my skin started to feel quite dry on the drive home. An immediate shower is recommended. 

Here's the best part. I felt completely relaxed on the drive home. I don't know if it was the salt water (which I hear has healing properties) or the cold of the water, or both? My muscles felt relaxed, and I felt rejuvenated and refreshed. I think I'm going to do this again before winter. It was 120% better than I thought it would be!

Time spent on adventure: 3 hours (including travel time)

Money spent: $3 entry fee

Recommendation: 9 out of 10 adventure points!