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The Spiral Jetty

Earthwork sculpture built by Robert Smithson in the Great Salt Lake has only recently re-emerged

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Image of The Spiral Jetty located in | Photograph of a person standing in the middle of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in rural Utah by Michael David Murphy

Photograph of a person standing in the middle of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty in rural Utah by Michael David Murphy

Source en.wikipedia.org

Source www.flickr.com

The Spiral Jetty is built of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, and dirt. It was built in 1970 by Robert Smithson and is 1500 feet long and 15 feet wide jutting out into the Great Salt Lake. However no one saw his work for over 30 years. Built during a drought, once the water levels returned to normal the spiral was submerged for three decades only emerging during a drought in 2004.

The black basalt rock are now mostly covered with white salt encrustation and the water has a pink hue to it. The jetty disappears if the lake level is higher than 4,197 feet and currently the jetty is again in danger of disappearing altogether. There is a plan to restore the jetty, but not everyone agrees. The sculptor, who died in a plane crash only three years after completing the jetty, expressed a love of entropy and the eroding powers of nature. It is likely Smithson would have been very happy with the jetty's constant disappearing act and changing appearance.

October and November are typically the lowest levels of the lake annually, but if there is a heavy snow pack the previous year, the jetty may stay submerged all year. As the drought comes to an end the jetty may once again disappear, this time never to re-emerge.

More on the general Salt Lake area: http://atlasobscura.com/places/antelope-island-great-salt-lake

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Website The Spiral Jetty
Address Rozel Point on the Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States

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Map/Directions

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Odometer readings vary with each vehicle. The distances given below are only approximations. The Department of Natural Resources has posted signs at each turn/fork to indicate directions to the Jetty. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THESE SIGNS AS SOUVENIRS. 1. Go to Golden Spike National Historic Site (GSNHS), 30 miles west of Brigham City, Utah. Spiral Jetty is 15.5 dirt road miles southwest of GSNHS's visitor center. 2. To get there (from Salt Lake City) take I-15 north approximately 65 miles to the Corinne exit (exit 365), just west of Brigham City, Utah. Exit and turn right onto Route 13 to Corinne. LAST GAS before Spiral Jetty is in Corinne at the Sinclair truck stop. 3. Past Corinne, the road becomes Highway 83. Continue west for 17.7 miles. 4. Turn left onto "Golden Spike Road" and continue 7.7 miles up the east side of Promontory Pass to GSNHS. LAST BATHROOMS before Spiral Jetty are at the GSNHSs Visitor Center. 5. From the Visitor Center, drive 5.6 miles west on the main gravel road to a fork in the road. Continue left, heading west. (From this vantage, the low foothills that make up Rozel Point are visible to the Southwest.) 6. Immediately you cross a cattle guard. Call this cattle guard #1. Including this one, you cross four cattle guards before you reach Rozel Point and Spiral Jetty. 7. Drive 1.3 miles south to a second fork in the road. Turn right onto the southwest fork, and proceed 1.7 miles to cattle guard #2. 8. Continue southeast 1.2 miles to cattle guard #3. 9. Continue straight 2.8 miles south-southwest to cattle guard #4 and an iron-pipe gate. 10. At this gate the Class D (gravel) road designation ends. From here, four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicles are strongly recommended. 11. If you choose to continue, drive south for another 2.7 miles, and around the east side of Rozel Point, you will see the Lake and a jetty (not Spiral Jetty) left by oil drilling explorations that ended in the 1980s. 12. Southwest beyond the site of the oil jetty, turn right onto a two-track trail that contours above the oil-drilling debris below. Travel slowly--the road is narrow, brush might scratch your vehicle, and the rocks, if not properly negotiated, could high center your vehicle or blow out your tires. Don't hesitate to park and walk. Spiral Jetty is just around the corner. 13. Drive or walk 6/10th of a mile west around Rozel Point and look toward the Lake. Spiral Jetty may be in sight. The lakes levels vary several feet from year-to-year and from season to season, so Spiral Jetty is not always visible above the water line.

Comments

Anonymous March 11, 2011

Went in February 2011 and the roads have been fixed up; a definite improvement over the condition of the roads last year.
Anonymous November 26, 2010

We made the trip out to see the jetty in late October 2010. Water levels were very low, so the jetty was easy to see and walk out to. I would suggest that low profile vehicles not take the trail. It was slightly rocky and looked like the roads were in the process of being repaired. We are going to make the trek again this coming summer! Completely worth the time to see!!
Anonymous February 3, 2010

We had so much fun going there however the drive absolutely ripped up my tires! Just be warned even if it looks and sounds like a short drive the actual drive time is at least an hour because of the poorly grated road. It was really cool but worth the wear and tear on the the car? Maybe.