There is a sign at the end of the road before it disappears into the expansive field of salt. When you pull up to the flats, you basically drive as far as the road will take you. The salt flats are remnants of the dried up Lake Bonneville, and they are located off of I-80 two hours west of Salt Lake City. We arrived mid morning, and had the place pretty much to ourselves minus a few others making quick stops to see the sights. On our second trip to Utah this year, we had a day set aside for the two hour drive out west to the Bonneville Salt Flats, and luckily for us, it was a beautiful day with bright blue skies. So, when I found out that Utah has a similar landscape, I knew we had to check it out sooner rather than later. There’s something about the expansive white salt flats that intrigues me. One spot that has been at the top of my list for a very long time is the Salar de Uyuni in Bolovia. Plans to link this remote area to the modern world via new infrastructure are underway, with the mineral wealth hidden beneath this pristine reflective surface leading some to predict Bolivia will be ‘the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century’.In Blog, Outdoor Adventure, United States, Utah The region is believed to contain the biggest store of lithium in the world – in demand for its use in lightweight batteries. But now the Bolivian government has ambitious plans for mineral extraction that will bring big changes to the isolated landscape. But, come the rainy season (roughly November to April), it is often covered with a shallow layer of water, which makes it hard to tell where land ends and the sky begins.įor years, only intrepid tourists and saleros (salt gatherers) have made it to this remote place. It is almost 100 times larger than the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, and so flat that NASA uses its surface to calibrate sensors on board satellites.ĭuring the dry season, from May to October, the surface crust of sodium chloride – more than 10m deep in places – is parched and cracked and looks as though it belongs on another planet. The 12,000sq km salt-encrusted prehistoric lakebed is located in Potosi, southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,660m above sea level.
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