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Floating Island is an isolated mountain that sits by itself just northeast of the
Bonneville Speedway and 25 miles (40km) northeast of Wendover, Utah. In photographs
of the Speedway that look toward its far end, Floating Island is the low, ugly
mountain in the distance, sitting by itself. It is named after the fact that mirages
distort its extremities at ground level, giving the appearance that it is floating
on the playa or salt---as shown here.

This island mountain in a sea of salt and mud flats is not on any list of sights to
see in Utah. It's a lonely, bleak environment that only a lover of the unusual could
enjoy. The mountain’s isolated position, obscure access route, and bleak appearance
conspire to keep the place quiet and seldom visited. Being on the summit affords
the visitor a fantastic view and the exhilarating feeling of being utterly alone.

My first glimpse of Floating Island was in 2002, on a whirlwind return drive from the
East Coast to my home near Seattle. When I drove onto the salt flats (to be able to say
that I had done it) I saw Floating Island off in the distance but did not know anything
about it. It seemed like a lonely place. Later, while I poured over topographic maps of
the area, it called to me to be explored---I wanted to know what the salt flats looked
like from its summit. In response to the call, I ventured to its summit in 2004 and again
in 2006. Variety is the spice of life, so in 2007 I scrambled to the top of the modest
south summit. It still calls to me: a circumnavigation on foot sounds like fun.

Floating Island appears at the center of this WikiMapia aerial view.
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