Bonneville can be a tough place (2008)

Oh dear, I can relate. We did Mongol Rally last year, 27'000 km total From Latvia to Mongolia and back. 2 months in an ancient soviet car (Lada 1200 from 1984).

We got proper stuck by a salt lake in Iran. A local tried to pull us out, only to get his car stuck as well. First tractor could get him out, but not us. Ended up getting a bigger tractor which essentially lifted us out.. Took about 4 hours in total.

Here's a pic:

https://i.imgur.com/yA92DZA.jpg

I've visited this place once. My girlfriend and I drove out quite a ways - the salt flats are prettier / more reflective, like what you'd see in popular Instagram posts, once you drive for 5 minutes away from the road that everyone parks on.

A storm was approaching from the direction that we came. I was counting the time between the rumbles of thunder and the strikes of lightning. It was about 5-10 seconds, which was close enough for me to rush back into the car after getting a couple of nice pictures.

My girlfriend and I parked our car toward the storm and watched for about 10 minutes. About half a mile back the way we came, we saw lightning strike the middle of the flats. It must have vaporized some of the mud / salt on the ground because there was a clear line of smoke coming up from that part of the ground. I was surprised that it struck a completely flat part, rather than our metal SUV, since we were definitely the tallest things around.

I insisted that we drive back, because despite knowing that we'd be relatively safe in a car, I wasn't looking to experience an electrical fire or, at a minimum, the worst jump-scare of my life. As I drove back to the parking lot, what shocked me the most was seeing people still out taking pictures back near the parking lot from which we came. The lightning strike occurred between our car and the people out taking photos, which means they were easily in striking distance. I was honestly scared I would witness someone get struck - these are salt _flats_ - anyone out taking photos is the tallest thing in the area for several miles.

My dad passed away late last year. He was a member of the 200 mph club, and still holds a few records he set in the 70s/80s.

Perhaps my favorite story was of the motorcycle he used to break 200mph on the saltflats. Some called it the high speed ditch witch. It had no fairing, making drag a night insurmountable obstacle. Adding more power just meant it would start digging deeper into the salt, and leave a ditch behind it as it went.

My mom's favorite story was about the time a powerful wind blew over a portapotty, knocking it onto the door, trapping the occupant inside.

For anyone intrested in the Rich History of Bonneville, the story of Burt, the first man to break the 200mph land record on a homemade bike he made in his shed in NZ was made into a movie a while back.

Awesome movie and still speaks to me about the real reason why I thought motorsports was the best thin back then in my Life.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/

I was on a commercial film shoot a few years ago for a production company from the east coast (New York area, I believe). They wanted to shoot on the salt flats but many had no knowledge of the flats or the challenges associated with them. They had all the proper permits, gear, clearances, and even a handful of local salt flat production veterans. But the shear lack of knowledge about the salt flats lead to four vehicles getting stuck in the salt, more than half of the day lost (it was a two day shoot), and what I was told was a very expensive bill from the towing company (who had to use an old snowcat) and the BLM who manages the land and is responsible for cleaning up the divits. Lesson learned: never take the salt flats for granted.

Many years ago I took a trip with my mother west from our home near Salt Lake City toward California in our crazy 6 wheeled van. I was a fairly new driver, so when we got to the giant concrete tree I decided to drive out to it.

As we were leaving I decided to drive around it a bit where I saw a bunch of other tracks had made circles in the salt. My mother got nervous when she saw what I was doing and started yelling "STOP! STOP!", so I did... Wrong move! While I had been moving, our speed and fresh salt had been holding us up, and when I stopped we immediately sank up to our axles like the motorhome here.

When the wrecker came they didn't want to come off the road at all. They had to leave and come back with a much longer cable. It took a few hours, but we managed to escape and finish our trip with no other major problems :)

There's a youtube channel for an offroad recovery company in Utah, and they recently were called to a nearby salt flat [0]. They almost got stuck themselves.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSpD_waiEQ

Those are amazing pictures.

What was the outcome? Were all the vehicles able to be pulled out?

Do people get fined or cited for ripping up the terrain due to negligence or is this a free for all land that you can drive on without much repercussion?

I just recall reading that at Burning Man for example, lighting a fire on the playa gets you a fine for permanently scarring the landscape. So, in this case, a truck leaving a 2 foot gash in the salt -- is that not something that carries a penalty?

Are those trenches and pits permanent? It was my understanding that the flats are from prehistoric lake Bonneville, which would make it seem as if they aren't going to regenerate until the next ice age.