National historical park
State park · Northern Utah
Antelope Island State Park
The largest island in the Great Salt Lake, with free-roaming bison, pronghorn and bighorn sheep, salty beaches and huge sunsets. Reached by a seven-mile causeway.
Photo: dconvertini · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Plan your visit: access, parking and practical details
Check the operator’s current fees, reservations, parking, transit, restrooms and accessibility arrangements before leaving. Confirm specific mobility or sensory needs directly with the venue.
Official visitor information ↗Antelope Island is a mountain ridge rising from the Great Salt Lake, reached by a causeway from Syracuse. Its grasslands are home to a herd of several hundred bison, as well as pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mule deer and coyotes. The causeway and shores are among the best birding spots in the West, with huge flocks of shorebirds in spring and fall.
Trails climb to Frary Peak, the island’s high point, and loop around Buffalo Point and Elephant Head. Bridger Bay Beach lets you float in the salty water when lake levels allow. The historic Fielding Garr Ranch, one of the oldest buildings in Utah, sits on the island’s southeast side, and the annual bison roundup in late October and November is a spectacle.
Don't miss
- Bison herdSeveral hundred free-roaming bison, often visible from the road.
- Fielding Garr RanchA ranch house dating to 1848, among the oldest Anglo buildings in Utah.
- Frary PeakA strenuous hike to the island’s summit, with views across the lake.
- Buffalo PointA short climb to a viewpoint over the lake and the Wasatch.
- Causeway birdingAvocets, stilts, phalaropes and other shorebirds by the thousands.
- Bison roundupAn annual fall event where the herd is gathered for health checks.
File photograph from the official park gallery. Photo: Utah State Parks (photographer not identified) · Utah.gov informational-use terms · Utah State Parks official park gallery
Hikes in Antelope Island
Good to know
- Give bison plenty of room, at least 100 feet. They are fast and unpredictable.
- Pack a fine-mesh head net for the no-see-ums from late spring through summer. The park says repellent does not work on them, though it does work on mosquitoes and deer flies. Check the park’s current conditions page before you go.
- Sunset from the island, looking west across the lake, is one of the best in Utah.
Also in Northern Utah
State park