The Astronomy Nexus

Similar to the Bonneville image, only going to the other extreme. The Great Salt Lake fluctuates markedly, getting lower during the hot, dry summer and early autumn, and higher with spring runoff from melting snow. A prolonged (decades- or centuries-long) hot and dry period could cause the whole lake to dry up, or at least be reduced to murky mudflats. Here, things have gotten so bad that not only has the lake gone, but the residents of Salt Lake have packed up and let the desert reclaim the Valley. The last person to leave recorded what the Valley looked like, as seen from the east, near the mouth of one of the canyons.