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If you look at the aerial photographs of I-80 in Utah around Salt Lake, near Grantsville, UT, you could potentially see that in some years, the lake "extends" to the south of I-80, whereas in others, the area may be completely dry.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=40+39+47+N,+112+21+31+W

There was a lot of water there this late June 2013, but, IIRC, a couple of years back, it was almost completely dry.

In general, from the point of view of whether the said smaller portions of the Salt Lake have anything in it that's very harmful to humans, is it safe to try to bathe in such smaller portions of the Great Salt Lake?

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  • While you may get an answer on Travel, this seems like a perfect question for The Great Outdoors Stachexchange site
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jun 30, 2013 at 5:30
  • possible duplicate of Is there any good way to know if a water-mass is safe to bathe in?
    – Maître Peseur
    Commented Jun 30, 2013 at 7:56
  • @MarkMayo, that's a crazy number of duplicate SE sites! I don't live in Utah, so, I don't see how this question is more about Outdoors rather than Travel.
    – cnst
    Commented Jun 30, 2013 at 16:27
  • I agree with you on that point. Just state in your questions that you are TRAVELING to Utah. Then it should be fine for this site
    – Maître Peseur
    Commented Jun 30, 2013 at 20:56
  • @cnst - no worries, I'm not saying it's off-topic, it's fine here - I just thought I'd mention it in case you weren't aware of them :)
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jun 30, 2013 at 21:10

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There is a great story on NPR regarding swimming in Great Salt Lake in general.

"The Great Salt Lake was like swallowing a battery," Gridley says, "whereas swimming in the ocean was like a glass of lemonade." He warns newcomers about swallowing lake water. "You could end up throwing your guts up."

Generally in the US unless there is a beach or an organized place swimming is usually either not allowed or at your own risk. Given the quote above I would stay away from the smaller quarry like pools, which may have salination levels closer to the ones in Dead Sea and are more likely to be used as evaporation pools for some sort of industrial operation.

If you still choose to take a swim in one don't be surprised to receive one of these...

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