Spiral Jetty, the earthwork Smithson built
Rozel Point Built April 1970 Free to visit
Spiral Jetty is the reason anyone drives this far out onto the north arm of the Great Salt Lake. In April 1970 the artist Robert Smithson had black basalt, mud, and salt crystals pushed off the shore at Rozel Point into a single counterclockwise coil, roughly 1,500 feet long and about 15 feet wide, curling out into the water. It is among the best known works of Land Art anywhere, and it was built right here, not moved in.
The material is all local. The dark rock is basalt from an old volcanic flow at the point, and Smithson chose the spot in part for the color of the water and the worn industrial leftovers along the shore. The coil is not a sculpture set on a pedestal; it is the ground itself, rearranged, so it reads differently on foot than in the famous aerial photographs, low and rough and close to the water rather than a clean line seen from above.
Smithson did not live many years after building it, and for decades the coil was simply left to the lake and the weather. What you walk out on today is that same 1970 spiral, shaped by half a century of rising and falling water, its rock now crusted with the salt the lake leaves behind.
The details
On the ground
On foot the jetty is lower and rougher than the aerial shots suggest. Follow the coil from the shore end and it winds you out to the center; in the driest stretches you can walk the whole spiral on packed salt, and when the water is up, the outer curve may sit under the surface. Either way it is a quieter, more physical thing than the photographs promise.
Before you go
- The famous view is from above; on the ground it sits low and close to the water, so temper the aerial-photo expectation.
- Everything is local rock and salt from the shore; the coil is the ground rearranged, not a built sculpture.
- There is no visitor center, no plaque wall, and no staff; the site is open, unmonitored land.
- Pair it with Golden Spike, 16 miles back toward the highway, which has the only restrooms and water for miles.
The dirt road out past Golden Spike
About 16 miles of dirt Roughly 30 minutes Dry weather only
Getting to Spiral Jetty is genuinely part of the experience, and it is not a casual drive. From the Golden Spike National Historical Park visitor center, the route runs about 16 miles on unpaved road, roughly 30 minutes, out around the east side of Rozel Point to the shore. The first few miles are a decent gravel road; the last stretch is dirt with sections of hard washboard that will rattle the car.
Most passenger cars make it in dry weather, but a higher-clearance vehicle is the safer choice, and rain changes everything: the surface turns to slick clay that can strand a car until it dries out. There is no pavement, no fuel, and no cell signal once you leave the highway, so this is a drive to take with a full tank, a charged phone loaded with offline directions, and an eye on the sky.
Small white signs mark the turns past the fork, but do not count on them being perfect; they are known to go missing. The park visitor center at Golden Spike is the last place with restrooms, water, and a person to ask, so treat it as your staging point and top off everything there before the final leg.
The details
The last leg
From I-15, take the Corinne and SR-83 exit and follow SR-83 west to Golden Spike, about 32 miles from Brigham City. From the visitor center the graded road heads west, forks after roughly five and a half miles, and the signed route follows the fork around the east side of Rozel Point to the shore. Drive it slowly; the washboard is worst in the final few miles.
Before you go
- Fill the tank and download offline maps in Brigham City or Corinne; there is no fuel or signal past Golden Spike.
- Wear closed shoes; the shoreline is sharp salt crust and mud, not a groomed path.
- Skip the trip if rain is in the forecast; the road turns to slick clay and can trap a vehicle.
- The last restrooms and drinking water are back at the Golden Spike visitor center.
How much you see depends on the lake
Great Salt Lake Salt-white rock Pink brine
There is no single answer to what Spiral Jetty looks like, because the Great Salt Lake is always moving. The jetty was underwater when the Dia Art Foundation took it on in 1999, and it had spent much of its early life submerged. Sustained drought later dropped the lake, and the coil has stood exposed through the dry stretches since, sometimes with the shoreline pulled back so far that a wide salt flat separates the jetty from open water.
So how much you see depends on the lake. In wet years the water can creep back over the outer coil; in dry years the whole spiral sits high on cracked salt, far from the waterline. When it is exposed, the black basalt turns white, crusted with the salt the lake leaves as it evaporates, and the shallow brine around it can run pink from the salt-loving microbes that color the lake's north arm.
None of this is a reason to skip the drive; it is the point. Spiral Jetty was made to change with the water, and every visit is a different reading of the same coil. Check for any current lake or road advisory before you go, and head out knowing that the version you get is the version the lake is offering that season.
The details
Reading the water
If the coil is partly under water when you arrive, walk the exposed inner curve and take in the color; if it is high and dry, you can follow the whole spiral across the salt. Either way the surrounding flats are worth the walk for the strange white-and-pink ground that drew Smithson here in the first place.
Before you go
- Expect a different scene every visit; the lake decides how much of the coil is above water.
- The salt crust is bright; bring sunglasses and sun protection even in the cooler months.
- The pink tint in the brine is natural, from microbes that color the lake's north arm.
- Wet salt and mud stain and cake onto shoes; closed, washable footwear is the right call.
Who owns it and how it is protected
Dia Art Foundation State land art 2017 On the Register 2024
Spiral Jetty belongs to the Dia Art Foundation, a New York art organization, which received it in 1999 as a gift from Nancy Holt, Smithson's widow, and the Estate of Robert Smithson. In a fitting turn for a work made of the lakebed, Dia does not own the ground: it leases the land under the jetty from the State of Utah's Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
Day to day, the jetty is cared for in partnership with two Salt Lake City institutions, the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah, which help study the site, guide visitors, and watch over a fragile artwork that sits unfenced on open shore.
Utah has claimed it as its own, too. In 2017 the state named Spiral Jetty its official work of Land Art, and in 2024 the coil was added to the National Register of Historic Places, unusual recognition for a piece barely half a century old. For a work that spent years underwater and out of mind, it is now firmly on the map.
The details
Why it matters
The stewardship is the reason the jetty is still here to visit and still free to walk. It also sets the expectation for how to treat it: this is a collected artwork on public land, watched over by museums, not a rock pile to rearrange for a photo.
Before you go
- The jetty is a museum-stewarded artwork, not an anonymous roadside curiosity; treat it as one.
- Dia leases the lakebed from the state, so you are on public land the whole way out.
- The site is unfenced and unstaffed, which is exactly why visitors are asked to tread lightly.
- Its 2024 listing on the National Register makes it one of the youngest works to earn that status.
Visiting a fragile artwork gently
Leave no trace Take nothing Build nothing
Because Spiral Jetty sits out here alone, with no staff and no barriers, it stays intact only because visitors are careful. The stewards ask a simple thing: leave the artwork as you find it. Walk gently on the coil, do not pry off salt crystals or basalt for a souvenir, do not add rocks, and do not build cairns or rearrange the spiral. The same goes for the trail markers, which have a habit of vanishing into pockets.
Standard leave-no-trace applies, and it matters more here than in most places, because there is no one to clean up after anyone. Pack out everything you bring in, including anything the wind catches on a shore where the wind rarely stops. What you take should be photographs; what you leave should be footprints on the salt.
Part of what drew Smithson to Rozel Point was its worn, industrial feel, and that is still here: scattered near the jetty are the rusting remains of old oil-drilling attempts, a derelict amphibious vehicle and weathered pilings left from decades ago. It is not a hazard to fear, just a strange, honest backdrop, and like the jetty, it is best left exactly where it lies.
The details
The quiet ask
None of this is heavily policed; it works on the honor system. The jetty has survived because most people who make the long drive out already understand what they came to see and want the next person to see the same thing.
Before you go
- Take nothing from the site, not salt crystals, not basalt, not a trail sign.
- Do not add rocks or build cairns; the coil is the artwork exactly as Smithson set it.
- Pack out all trash; there are no bins, no restrooms, and no one to tidy up.
- Leave the old drilling wreckage alone as well; it is part of the place Smithson chose.
