One of the most challenging concepts to comprehend is time, especially vast passages. The Great Salt Lake, huge as it is, is only a remnant of ancient Lake Bonneville which covered much of present Utah as well as into Nevada and Idaho. If we could time travel back 15,000 years, in the image below I would’ve been standing on the shore of the lake looking across to the shoreline where the sun is streaking across the Promontory Mountains in the distance. Geologists say a natural dam collapsed in Idaho, and a flood so massive occurred that it may have taken a year to drain Lake Bonneville.
Golden Spike National Historical Park sunset
I was exploring a bit of Golden Spike National Historical Park while enjoying the evening light display. I pulled over for a short hike to Chinese Arch, named to commemorate a large part of the workforce that built the railroad. Over 11,000 Chinese workers labored on the Central Pacific rail line from Sacramento digging tunnels and building up tracks.
Compared to the massive natural arches in southern Utah, this limestone formation is puny, but it can help you make that time travel back 15,000 years. The waves of Lake Bonneville washed against the shoreline here and eroded the rock. The arch likely would not have lasted too long and been fully eroded by the waves had the lake not disappeared. But now you can stand on this rock and look down imaging the lake waves rolling against the arch below.
Chinese Arch and the ancient Lake Bonneville lake bed
I didn’t realize the light show I was about to be gifted with. The sun was appearing and disappearing with the cloud cover, and golden light would shine on the rocks and then go away. The sun was going below the ridge behind me, but providing a nice show as it sank.
Chinese Arch glow
Then I noticed even more magic. Do you see the hint in the image above?
I saw the arch was casting its shadow on the land below. On what would’ve been lake water. I got an invite to a natural Stonehenge show. It must only be a couple times a year that the sun angle will show the full shadow of the arch. And then only for a few minutes as the sun gets low in the sky and before it goes behind the ridge. And then there must not be clouds to cover the sun. What an event to stumble upon.
Arch shadow