Antelope Island: Bison, the Great Salt Lake, and a Pioneer Ranch at the Water's Edge

Antelope Island is a 28,000-acre landmass in the Great Salt Lake — connected to the mainland by a 7.2-mile causeway — that shelters the largest publicly owned bison herd in the United States (800+ animals descended from 12 calves introduced in 1893), the oldest continuously operating ranch in Utah, and the lake itself, which is ten times saltier than the ocean and supports a brine shrimp ecosystem that feeds millions of migratory birds. The island offers a genuinely rare combination: bison roaming in a sagebrush landscape visible from the Salt Lake City skyline, swimming in hypersaline water where buoyancy makes floating effortless, and a pioneer ranch in continuous operation since 1848.