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City Guide - Salt Lake City - Excursions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Excursions For a Half Day Great Salt Lake: No visit to the region is complete without a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake that gave this city its name. Several times saltier than the ocean, with a salinity as high as 27% at time, it is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River. In the late nineteenth century, it was lined with fashionable resorts; today, only the shabby Salt Air Palace gives testimony to its former glory days. Floating in the lake and picnicking are popular activities. The Great Salt Lake (tel: (801) 250 1898; opening hours: daily 0800-dusk; admission: free) is located 27km (17 miles) west of Salt Lake City, and can be reached from exit 104 on I-80. Park City: Utah's largest ski area, headquarters of the United States Ski Team, is just 51km (32 miles) east of Salt Lake City via I-80. It was a former silver mining boomtown in the late nineteenth century, and the historic buildings of the central downtown area are a delightful contrast to the modern condos of the ski area. Locals in period costume give walking tours in the summer. The art galleries along Park Avenue and Main Street are also good for browsing. Summer and winter recreational activities are plentiful. For a Whole Day Dinosaur National Monument: Covering 842 sq kilometres (325 square miles) in Utah and Colorado, the Dinosaur National Monument (tel: (801) 789 2115) contains the largest quarry of bones from the Jurassic Period ever found. A Visitor Centre has been built over the quarry, where the fossilised dinosaur skeletons can be seen in situ. The dinosaur fossils lie on the Utah side of the park, east of Vernal and north of Jensen, about 296km (185 miles) from Salt Lake City via Highway 40. The area is also popular for whitewater rafting on the Green and Yampa Rivers, while the Colorado side has miles of hiking trails and scenic canyons. |
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