Antelope Island & Great Salt Lake: Wildlife, Ranch & Hike Tour

4.89

(169 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I’ll admit, I signed up for this Antelope Island wildlife tour mostly because I was curious about the Great Salt Lake. But the second we crossed onto the island, something shifted—suddenly it was just open space, that weird salty tang in the air, and these herds of bison looking like they’d been here forever. Our guide (Jake—he grew up in Ogden and knows every random fact about Utah) pointed out pronghorns darting through the brush. I tried to spot them with the binoculars he handed out but mostly just caught glimpses between sage bushes. Still, there’s something about seeing animals actually roam free that makes you feel small in a good way.

We stopped at Fielding Garr Ranch and it felt like stepping into another century. The old barn creaked when the wind picked up and you could still smell hay somewhere under all that dust. Jake told us how Mormon settlers survived winters out here—I can’t imagine it honestly—and showed us an old piano in the ranch house that looked like it might play itself if you waited long enough. There was a quietness inside those walls that made everyone lower their voices a little, even the kids.

The walk up to Buffalo Point wasn’t hard (maybe 15 minutes?), but I kept stopping to look back at the lake—the way sunlight hit it made everything look silver and flat, almost fake. At the top you get this full-on panorama: snow on the Wasatch Mountains behind you, water stretching out forever in front. Someone said it looked like another planet and yeah, I kind of agree. I didn’t expect to care so much about brine shrimp either but watching birds swoop down over the water while Jake explained how they survive in all that salt… it stuck with me.

On the drive back to Salt Lake City we were all pretty quiet—just tired in that good way you get after being outside all day. I still think about those bison sometimes when traffic gets loud back home.