On July 29, 2025 I visited Buffalo Point on Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.
The hike is a 2.0-kilometer (1.25-mile) moderate ascent.
White Rock Bay as Seen from Buffalo Point
Smoke from a wildfire along Arizona’s Grand Canyon dulled the scene.
The edge of the clouds mark the tailend of a cold front exiting to the east (left).
Closer View of White Rock Bay
Wildfire smoke obscures the Oquirrh Mountains in the distance.
Closeup of White Rock Beach from the Cliff of Buffalo Point
In fifty years I had never before noticed the curlicues on the beach.
The Main Body of the Great Salt Lake
If you look at the right top of the frame, you can see the Lakeside Mountains through the smoke.
The 530-million-year-old rocks in the foreground are Tintic Quartzite.
This formation is metamorphic and began as sand layers deposited along a coastal beach when Utah was south of the equator.
Now the quartzite rests at 1458 meters (4785 feet) above sea level and roughly halfway between the equator and the North pole.
On the day of this photo, the surface of the lake was 1277 meters (4191 feet) above sea level.
The Silhouetted Spine of Antelope Island – Enhanced View
Looking east at the exiting clouds.
Hypothesis: The smoke particles produced virga1NOAA definition: Streaks or wisps of precipitation falling from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground. by cloud seeding.
Disclosure: This spectacular scene is a software trick…
The Silhouetted Spine of Antelope Island – Actual View
…this is how the the clouds and smoke really appeared to the unaided eye.
Adobe Lightroom “x-rayed” the clouds and smoke to produce the prior image.
Endnote
I like the challenge of photographing in less than picture perfect conditions.
Thank you for visiting Thecosmos.blog.
Your host,
Michael DeCaria
Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen – Robert Bresson
- 1NOAA definition: Streaks or wisps of precipitation falling from a cloud but evaporating before reaching the ground.