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THE PARK
Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric
lake that once covered most of present-day Utah and parts of
Nevada and Idaho. At more than 1,000 feet deep the lake was as
large as Lake Michigan today and much deeper. About 17,000 years
ago a large portion of the lake was released through the Red
Rock Pass in Idaho and when the climate changed the lake began
drying up, leaving the Great Salt Lake as its most identifiable
remnant. A bit south of the Great Salt Lake deposits left by
a Lake Bonneville feeder stream, the Sevier River, have been
whipped around by prevailing winds to create Little Sahara, one
of the largest dune fields in the American West. Today there
are nearly 60,000 acres of towering sand dunes and sagebush flats
that have become known as Utah's greatest sand play area.
WALKS
The Little Sahara is a magnet
for off-highway vehicles who roar in and out of dune bowls and
up sand mountains as high as 700 feet. There are no designated
trails out in the dunes so there is a chance you can encounter
a motorized vehicle just about anywhere you hike, unless you
make it across the dunes to Rockwell Natural Area which is a
vehicle-free zone. But if you avoid popular holiday weekends
there is a good chance to experience a solitary dune hike with
your dog somewhere in the 124-square mile system of giant, free-moving
sand dunes. If your dog tires of trotting through deep sand there
are networks of dirt trails to be had here as well.
BONUS
You will share the quiet of the
Raockwell Natural Area with a unique plant species known as "Giant
four-wing saltbush" that grows naturally only in the dune
fields of Little Sahara and nowhere else in the world.
DIRECTIONS
Little Sahara is approximately 115 miles from Salt Lake City
via the Nephi exit of I-15. The entrance road is four miles west
of Jericho Junction off US 6.
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