I live in Salt Lake City. No duh, right? A fairly metropolitan area that homes about a million and a half people. It is hard to think that about an hours drive would bring you to what would be a wasteland by any definition.
Welcome to the Salt Flats.
Welcome to the Salt Flats.
Not pictured: Slugs, Pepper.
The Bonneville Salt Flats is a geological formation that is left over from the recession of Lake Bonneville. Due to the hard pack nature of the salt and our altitude (lower air pressure) it makes it a wonderful place to go really fast and not die for the most part.
The Salt Flats has seen speed records set as far back as 1935 with the last major land speed record set back in 1970 and a car topping out at 622 mph, not quite the sound barrier.
It's also been featured in a few movies, one of the most notable being Independence Day.
Salt for your popcorn flick.
An interesting (to ME anyway) thing is he wrecks his plane in the Grand Canyon and is able to walk, alien in tow to this place. Now, measuring from about the highest place on the GC to the lowest on the SF we come up with 224 miles. Will Smith, to cover that distance in a few hours walking? That is a land speed record.
Took me a minute to get it because I was thinking the "other" recession
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