I visited the Great Salt Lake the day before I flew home to L.A.

Here I am on the southern shore - a beautiful sunny day.

It was snowing only a few days previously, as you can tell by the mountains.

See the tall vertical smokestack in the middle? That's the stack for the Kennecott Copper Mine smelter.

The lake is divided in two by a railroad causeway. While the water in the south end is green/bluish as you can see, the north end is colored red by algae. The red patches here are most likely brine shrimp exoskeletons.

The number of islands in the lake (and its size) varies with the water level. Only the 11 largest islands are named.

We're looking toward the largest island (Antelope Island). The hills on the southern part of the island have such colorful names as Garr Knolls and Molly's Nipple.

My tall, dark, and handsome impromptu tour guide looking out over what remains of Lake Bonneville; in its heyday it covered an area about 10x that of the present Great Salt Lake, including the Bonneville Salt Flats to the west.

The lake shrinks and expands with the amount of water flowing into it; in these pictures it's at a fairly low level. The only way water can leave is by evaporation; the salinity ranges from 10-27 percent, and the north end is about twice as salty as the south.

Wind-driven waves form interesting ripples in the sand/salt as the lake shrinks.

The receding water leaves colorful layers, apparently stained by algae, dead brine shrimp, etc.

Closer look at the shoreline

Part of the lake bed has not been under water for a long time, and the salt forms a thick crust on the surface.

Let's follow our tour guide to see what's out there, half-buried in the salt!

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