Antelope Island

When Sam had a day off a few weeks ago, the kids decided they wanted to show him Antelope Island. The rest of us went there last year while we were studying rocks, to see some particularly old gneiss (1.7 billion years old, in fact). We loved how remote and isolated the island feels, we loved the herds of bison roaming around, and we loved the beautiful, salt-worn landscape. The kids had been wanting to show everything to Sam ever since! It was a perfectly warm, stormy morning, just the right weather in which to appreciate the wild landscape.

We found the gneiss first. Yep, still there (1.7 billion years plus one!) We climbed around on it. It's so beautiful! I love the swirls and bands--every rock has its own unique character.

Then we hiked a short trail up to a beautiful overlook of the lake. It's a great hike for kids because there are benches to rest on along the way!

The best part was that at the top of the trail, there was a plateau full of huge, clustered rocks (not gneiss--something else. I know there is tufa there, which I think is a conglomerate and looks kind of like concrete. Some of these rocks were maybe quartzite, also).

(maybe this is the tufa?)

Anyway, Sam said this would be a perfect place to play hide-and-seek, and it was! We had so much fun hiding and running and sneaking around among the rocks.