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Climatic Features

• The biological community in which Golden Spike is situated is classified as a Sagebrush Steppe, and not a desert.
• Golden spike lies in the midst of a "rain shadow", and area in which moisture is held out by high mountain ranges. The mountain ranges responsible in this case are the Sierra Nevada of California and the Cascades of Washington and Oregon. This is the main reason the Great Basin is so arid.
• Elevation: 4,500' - 5,300'.
• Rainfall: 8" - 12", mostly winter snow.
• Temperature range: 20 - 104 degrees.
• July and August are the hot months.
• December - February are the coldest.
• Spring and Fall are generally mild but can vary due to jetstreams and arid nature of land.
• Snow depths average less than 12" - 14".
• 3" - 4" occasionally fall per storm.
• Heaviest 37" in late 1940's early 1950's.

Geologic Features

• Precipitation soaks quickly through the thin layer of top soil and disappears in the large gravel deposits below.
• There is a thick layer of hardpan about 18-20 inches below the surface near the Visitor Center.
• Culinary water is obtained at 430 feet deep.

Lake Bonneville

• Area is covered with sediment from Lake Bonneville, older rock formations protrude.
• Plain in the vicinity are filled with high quality gravel, a heritage of geologic Lake Bonneville.
• Lake Bonneville was present some 20,000 to 100,000 years ago during the fourth glacial period of geologic time.
• Promontory Summit was under 230 feet of water when Lake Bonneville was at its highest point, 1000 feet above present level of the Great Salt Lake and 4,200 feet above sea level.
• The level of the lake fluctuated.
• Promontory Mountains were once islands in the lake.
• Lake left distinct terraces on the surrounding mountains.
• Highest terrace was the highest level that the lake reached.
• Highest level of the lake was the Bonneville Level.
• One lower level was the Provo Level, which formed the knob on Fremont Island.
• Another lower level was the Stansbury Level.
• Promontory Summit is so situated that it receives drainage from both the north and south slope of the Promontory Mountains.
• Water flow towards the Visitor Center complex and separates to the east and west.
• Lake Bonneville was almost as large as Lake Michigan.
• The Summit is one of the few natural passes across the Promontory Mountains.
• The Great Salt Lake of today is fed by the Bear, Ogden, Weber and Jordan Rivers.

Miscellaneous Features

• Pilot Peak, north of Wendover, was one of the sights where the Donnor Party camped on their trek West. It was here that they stayed too long, and the delay caused them to be trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
• During World War II, Wendover was the sight where the United States was preparing the two B-29 bombers that were to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. Much of the land west of the Park was used as a testing range for these aircraft.
• The Newfoundland Mountains are an isolated mountain range in the northern part of the Great Salt Desert. Utah Wildlife Resources Division has planted Big Horn Sheep on them.
• The Hogup Mountains, on the northwest shore of the Great Salt Lake, were once the domain of the Fremont Indians. Their descendants were the Shoshone. Today their closest relatives have an office in Brigham City the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Also other relatives of the Gosute bands of the Shoshone Nation live on reservations on the Utah and Nevada border.