What’s New in Utah Summer 2022
The Great Salt Lake Needs Saving
Even just a quick dip in the saline waters of Utah’s Great Salt Lake (on average about four times saltier than the ocean!) delivers sensations and smells unique to this area of the state. While travellers visit this natural wonder, they can also help save it. Its waters have dropped to an all-time low, depleted by upstream diversions and climate change. The lake’s historic decline threatens Utah’s air quality, snowpack and a vital ecosystem that supports more than 10 million migratory shorebirds and waterfowl each year. Visitors can plan a Great Salt Lake pilgrimage this year as a way to boost their own well-being while also giving back to the lake. Each visit can support the parks, preserves and museums run by organizations working hard to protect the lake’s future. Learn more here.
Outdoor Indigenous Art Galleries
Utah is home to an extensive Native American history with most of its culturally significant sites located outdoors for road trippers to respectfully visit. Nine Mile Canyon is known as “the world’s longest outdoor art gallery” for the tens of thousands of petroglyphs and pictographs found along this 64km route. Visitors will also find hundreds of petroglyphs dating back 2,000 years etched into Newspaper Rock along the Indian Creek Corridor Scenic Byway at Bears Ears National Monument, then marvel at the 91meter panel at Sand Island. Even when visiting Utah’s Mighty 5® national parks, visitors will find ancient Ute petroglyphs just off the trail to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, and Fremont petroglyphs in Capitol Reef National Park, whose peoples were more prolific with their rock art output than other neighbouring Native American cultures. Learn more here.
Farming Utah’s Red Earth
Located in Cedar City, Red Acre Farm is a charming story of role reversal when growing a family farm. It began when organic farmer Sarah Patterson was 12 years-old. The Pattersons moved to Utah to escape city life and when Sarah saw the rich, red earth and expansive field that was her new backyard, she immediately desired to have a horse, chickens and grow a few vegetables. At age 14, Sarah was growing more produce than she could handle so launched a CSA program. By age 16, both of Sarah’s parents were working for her and the farm became the sole income for the family. Now, some 10 years later, Red Acre Farm grows more than 170 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs on the same patch of Utah red dirt, and welcomes visitors to a host of activities, including monthly breakfasts, weekly al fresco lunches, live concerts, fundraising feasts in the fields, and farmhouse cooking classes. Learn more here.
Look West for Autumn Colours
Utah is known for its red rock landscapes, but until October it also boasts some of the best Autumn foliage visitors will find in the United States (with all due respect to the East Coast, of course). Utah is home to seven national forests and 11 scenic byways offering leaf peeping opportunities. For example, in Northern Utah, travelling the Logan Canyon National Scenic Byway allows road trippers to sample the harvest season through this rich agricultural area ablaze with colour, including the turquoise waters of Bear Lake; nicknamed “the Caribbean of the Rockies.” In Southern Utah, the Patchwork Parkway National Scenic Byway (known as Southern Utah’s Fall Colour Loop), connects three scenic byways and features Cedar Breaks National Monument near Cedar City. Learn more here.
