The Spiral Jetty has been called one of the most important American sculptures of the 20th century. Built by Robert Smithson in 1970 out of mud and basalt rocks it spent the majority of its life submerged in the waters of the Great Salt Lake, but over the past decade the waters of the lake have remained low enough that the Jetty has been visible and walk able again.
I had been to the Spiral Jetty twice before, most notably for the 2009 Relic Run, but was looking for a quick, fun first outing to take our new Nissan Pathfinder on. So Tomi, two friends and myself loaded it up and headed out. Our first stop was the Golden Spike National Historic Site. For some reason I had assumed that since it was a Sunday, it would be closed. Fortunately since it is a Federal site, not a state one, this is not the case. So we got to wander the small museum and the actual Joining of the Rails. Golden Spike always inspires a certain amount of awe in me at the level of engineering and personal sacrifice that was required to build the first transcontinental railroad. Plus, its just fun to see how far you can walk along the rails before you fall!
After Golden Spike we quickly hit the dirt road that heads out to Rozel Point and the Spiral Jetty. I have to say going from the Samurai to the Pathfinder is night and day. Sixty miles per hour on a rutted dirt road was smooth as silk, a far cry from the rattling, jarring Samurai.
Just to the east of our final destination is the site of some old oil works. Under the Great Salt Lake is actually a vast amount of oil. Unfortunately it is very young, tar like oil so it is rather difficult extract. Over the years there have been many attempts to make oil drilling on the lake a profitable enterprise and this location is one of these endeavors. The remains here consist of lots of wooden pilings that once held the rigs and piping, rusted out pipes, cables and even some oil barrels that had sunk in the lake when the water was high. An absolutely fascinating place to climb around and see what you can find, you’ll even come up on some seeping oil, just don’t step in it unless you want to lose your shoe.
I’d venture to say that the oil works are more interesting than the Spiral Jetty. Perhaps that’s just me, but they are worth the drive alone and the Spiral Jetty is just a bonus. Some people are concerned that there may be a return of drilling to the area with the increase in oil prices. Interestingly, I understand that Smithson chose this location for the Spiral Jetty because of the oil drilling going on. It was easier to get heavy equipment out there to dump the rocks due to the service road. I guess the return of drilling would place the Jetty to the correct context again.
After climbing around the oil works for about an hour we made our way the last half mile or so to the Spiral Jetty. From the road you can look down and see the Jetty and appreciate the art of it. It is an interesting sculpture as it juts 1500 feet out into what was the lake but is now just a mud flat and, well, spirals to the left. Every time I’ve come out here I wonder what people will think about this centuries in the future. Will this be like Stonehenge (which really isn’t a henge at all, but that’s semantics) where they wonder what its relevance was? Will they realize that it was just some guys’ crazy idea for a piece of art? Who knows.
The previous times I was out here the place was desolate except for our party. This time because of all the news articles about the Jetty and the exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Art there where about 20 people there, which made it seem crowded. From the road you have to climb down a rocky hill to get to the Jetty itself. It’s much easier to walk on the mud flats than the actual Jetty, but what’s the fun in that, right? On the farthest edge where the shallow waters of the lake still lap at the Jetty you get some spectacular vistas in all directions. And that’s about the excitement of the Jetty. I know, somewhat anti climatic, sorry.
We hit the road after a bit at the Jetty and on our way back to the highway I remembered that ATK’s “Rocket Garden” was just up the road a bit so we thought we’d stop in there a bit. Glad we did. It’s awesome to think that this remote part of Utah has played such a pivotal part in the country’s space and defense industry. The Rocket Garden displays many of ATK’s historically important rocket motors and components ranging from old Nike Anti-Ballistic Missiles to the Shuttles primary booster and a Minuteman Missile. A very interesting stop even if you only have a passing interest in such things.
It was a very enjoyable day and everyone had a good time, even though they had to endure my history ramblings for most of the day. I’m hoping to head out on a lot more of these one or two-day weekend jaunts all this summer. So you should be seeing more reports soon!
