Saltaire (Utah)

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

My boy and I will be going to the beach on Sunday 20th Nov if anyone is interested. We should be there around 9am. I will be breaking open a fresh can of virgins to sacrifice to the wind gods.

Dag nabbit I'll miss that can opening. I always keep a can of Whupp-Ass handy but never thought of harboring virgins that way. Takes a new guy to come into the state to bring in new, creative, innovative solutions to age old storage problems. Good on ya.

I'm heading to Ivanpah the following day so I think I need to miss this outing. Next time!

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody   My boy and I will be going to the beach on Sunday 20th Nov if anyone is interested. We should be there around 9am. I will be breaking open a fresh can of virgins to sacrifice to the wind gods. Dag nabbit I'll miss that can opening. I always keep a can of Whupp-Ass handy but never thought of harboring virgins that way. Takes a new guy to come into the state to bring in new, creative, innovative solutions to age old storage problems. Good on ya. I'm heading to Ivanpah the following day so I think I need to miss this outing. Next time!

No problems, have a great time on the Playa.

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

We will be on the beach this Saturday 26th for some kiting fun

Woody - where exactly and when (approximately)? I may be able swing down. I'd love to check out some bigger terrain than the soccer fields I put up with up here in Park City.

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

We will be at Saltair around 9am onwards

Good stuff. Did The Valley get snow last night? We got a nice dump uphill of ya. Pounded like a motha for a couple of hours in the evening. First real blast of the year.

I'm planning at this point to come down Saturday morning. Thanks for your cell; I look forward to meeting you and your son. :karate:

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody   We will be at Saltair around 9am onwards Good stuff. Did The Valley get snow last night? We got a nice dump uphill of ya. Pounded like a motha for a couple of hours in the evening. First real blast of the year. I'm planning at this point to come down Saturday morning. Thanks for your cell; I look forward to meeting you and your son. :karate:

Yep we got about 2 inches and it is all thawing at the moment.

We will stay at Saltair until you get down there if there is no wind. Then we can go wind chasing westwards.
If there is wind you will see us blasting around

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

We will stay at Saltair until you get down there if there is no wind. Then we can go wind chasing westwards. If there is wind you will see us blasting around

I plan to leave home around 8:30 which should have me there about 9:15 or thereabouts. Looks as if we may have around 10 mph winds. Fine for my quiver; hopefully good for you too. Whupp!

Quote: Originally posted by Showwguy

Hey guys this is Matt from last week. I saw you out at Saltaire today. I stopped to check the wind. Sorry I didn't say hi. I went ahead little towards Grantsville (10 min). It seems the south winds are not blocked so much. It is also just as open as the Saltaire area. It was a bit wet not standing water but I think after the recent storm everything was that way. There were some guys on 4 wheelers doing just fine so not an issue for buggies. Anyways I'm a noob so I don't know much but much about good areas but we'll have to meet up sometime!

Hey Matt! Yeah, bummer with the winds today. We did try driving out to the second Grantsville exit and drove out towards the lake but couldn't get to it so we returned to Saltaire. Kent (awindofchange) has mentioned some riding area by Toele so maybe there too.

Paul (slapbasswoody) and I both felt that Saltaire would be best when the winds had a northerly aspect to it (onshores) so the mountain doesn't block it.

Sure enough, 2-3 miles East had the flags whipping. Go figure!

Quote: Originally posted by Showwguy

It wasn't quite that far. It was before the first exit. On the link https://goo.gl/maps/2hr2byMz2UR2 it will make more sense in satellite view. It's not an official exit but I didn't see any trespassing signs. There were also no gates to go through. It is a really secluded spot too.

I know exactly where this is! I thought about heading down that exact little dirt road. I saw a tiny tunnel under the railroad tracks and then it looked to open up, only accessible from the west-bound lanes. Great to have another spot just a mile or so farther from SLC than the Great Saltaire but on the other side of that range of mountains and thus likely a whole other wind pattern. An additional attractive thing about that spot is how it sits right on the corner of the water, looking as if one could ride North/South or East/West. That could really come in handy depending on wind direction.

Thanks for pointing this out!

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

Hi guys. I was looking at that spot on Google maps but couldn't find an exit off the interstate. Glad to see you have joined the forum Matt. Here's looking forward to the next meeting. before long we will have a traction kiting club in Utah. Coolio

Paul - I saw it off the highway. It was just a mile or two beyond the Saltaire exit on I-80W. Not an exit at all; rather, look for a gravel pull off on the side of the highway with a gravel track heading straight off of the pull off that goes under a one lane-wide tunnel under the railroad tracks. It can only be accessed from the Westbound lanes.

Roughly 11 miles West of the Great Saltaire strand is a place flagged on Google Maps called Salt Flats Flying Spot. You get to it via a short gravel rough road right off of I-80W at mile marker 93 about 2-3 miles before the Toele exit. It is only accessible from the west lanes. There isn't an exit, but rather a gravel pull off from the highway like where a police car would pull over for a speed trap.

The gravel road takes you under the railroad tracks and then immediately opens up to V-A-S-T open space right on the SW corner of the Great Salt Lake. Amongst many other awesome things about this spot is that by sitting right on the corner of the lake you can ride your buggy N/S or E/W depending on the wind direction. I'd say about the only wind direction that wouldn't work too well there would be a pure SE because of a large mountain range across the highway that could block flow.

The first picture below points sort of Northward and would be the route of travel if the winds were primarily from the West or East. The second shot is the direction you could go if the winds came out of the North or South.

I imagine there would be virtually zero foot traffic out there as the spot is really quite remote. Scale is hard to judge from the photos, but the distances of open unobstructed sand stretches for miles in both directions, particularly if you head North. Many miles! Yeah baby, yeah!!!!! :karate:



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Looks like a perfect location for a SWATK USA club house to be built ha ha ha

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

We will be on the beach tomorrow morning. 16mph Notherlies. Wrap up warm though.

Conditions sound great. Nippy, but great. I'm going to be skiing with my daughter tomorrow so will have to miss it. I'll be most interested to hear about how it goes. With the recent rains and snow I'm curious how dry things are. Saltaire or the flying spot by mile marker 93?

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody   We will be on the beach tomorrow morning. 16mph Notherlies. Wrap up warm though. Conditions sound great. Nippy, but great. I'm going to be skiing with my daughter tomorrow so will have to miss it. I'll be most interested to hear about how it goes. With the recent rains and snow I'm curious how dry things are. Saltaire or the flying spot by mile marker 93?

I'll post a report on the conditions etc.
Have a great day tomorrow Steve

We have finally thawed out so can report on the new flying spot on the Great Salt Lake beach.
So we decided to get down to the beach early because the weather forecast said that the wind was dropping off mid morning.
Arriving at Saltair the wind was blowing about 20mph gusting to 25, we decided to move on to the flying spot which was a good idea because we could drive onto the beach with the car.
Stepping out of the car the wind was blowing the same speed and northerly so bang on shore.
So the temperature outside was around 19 degrees and with the wind chill it was about death degrees.
Not to worry we were there so wrap up and off we went.
He spent about 2 hours of blasting around the beach before it just got too cold and we packed up and went home.
This place really is going to be awesome in the spring and summer.
So now we have 2 beaches for the SWATK USA club and on the look out for a few more spots.

Happy winds and see you soon.

Woody

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

This place really is going to be awesome in the spring and summer. So now we have 2 beaches for the SWATK USA club and on the look out for a few more spots. Happy winds and see you soon. Woody

How awesome is that!!! Very excited to read that the "kiting spot" panned out! My daughter and I skied yesterday in the bitter cold up in the hills above the lake and I can only imagine how cold it must have felt sitting on your seat meat in the bug.

Unless we get some major Indian Summer (that's American for freaky warm temps in the middle of winter for you Brits) I may not be buggying this winter until IBX2017, but count me in BIG TIME come Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

The weather is getting a little warmer over here (toasty 52 degrees) so we are planning a trip to the flying spot on The great salt lake this Saturday. Wind is forecast Southerly 10 - 15mph with an overcast day so all being well we shall be buggying.

Go get some Paul! Wish I could join you this Saturday. However, like many men confident in their masculinity, I'll be joining my wife and daughter that day at the ballet. Sleeping Beauty at the Capital Theater 🎭 downtown SLC.

I am curious about the water level in the lake, now, and in the spring once all the mountain snow comes melting down. This good a snow year will make for some elevated lake water I suspect, robbing us of some valuable acreage along the shoreline.

Quote: Originally posted by Randy

This might provide a little insight into the water level. Somewhat higher than last year and rising, but still below 2015. http://greatsalt.uslakes.info/Level.asp Time is on your side though - it is declined over the past 150 years and may well continue to do so in the long run. http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/utah-great-salt-l...

Randy, coming in strong! Outstanding. For us buggy riders the long term receding of the water bodes well. A playa is forming! :karate:

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

Out on the Great Salt Lake beach today. The wind was blowing south so off to the flying spot to see if it works in a southerly. first of all we got down there and long story short we had to call my wife to come and tow our truck out of the sand-clay mixture. lesson learned check the beach before driving on it. once out of the mire we set up the kites and had a great time. the wind was blowing 10-15mph. Jack was out on the 4.4m reactor and I was having fun with the 9m chrono. After around 2 and a half hours the wind dropped so we headed home to wash the car and buggy down. Best day buggying in the US so far. Roll on IBX whoohooo

Glad you and Jack nailed it today Paul! Your wife is a trooper. Good to hear too that the "flying spot" works in a southerly of that strength. That should be the worst of all wind directions for that spot I'd think so it would seem that a >10 mph wind would work coming from any direction which is a great piece of Intel to have gathered for that spot.

Was the lake noticeably risen / beach smaller than when we saw that spot in the fall? We had a huge mountain melt about 10 days ago and I'm curious if the lake rose enough to cut back on the shore acreage. Also, was it dry suit sort of splashing and mucking or was the surface pretty good? I'd think the amount of water that's hit the sand as snow or rain in the past month or so would be considered pretty high compared to most months of the year.

Stoked that you guys had your best US buggy experience to date! IBX will reset that. :karate:

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody

Let's see what time we get finished at Comic Con tomorrow. It's Jacks birthday so we could rock up at the Salt Lake flying spot for some buggy action. The wind looks pretty good.

I flew SLC - Spokane yesterday and the plane arced right over the lake. I was looking at a whole lot of open sand! I can't join but man I want to! Have a great time.

Quote: Originally posted by Windstruck

Quote: Originally posted by slapbasswoody   Let's see what time we get finished at Comic Con tomorrow. It's Jacks birthday so we could rock up at the Salt Lake flying spot for some buggy action. The wind looks pretty good. I flew SLC - Spokane yesterday and the plane arced right over the lake. I was looking at a whole lot of open sand! I can't join but man I want to! Have a great time.

Cheers Steve and see you soon