No Layton motorhome rental vacation would be complete without a trip to
Antelope Island
, a site that, in addition to its namesake animal, is home to about 600 bison, along with tons of mule deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. It’s also a waystation for thousands of migratory birds, although not quite as many as the nearby Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. On any given day you’ll likely find tens of thousands of birds roosting here. It’s estimated that between four and six million birds feed and rest at Great Salt Lake and its wetlands every year, as the area provides a critical stop on the journey between North and South America. Some of the largest wildlife gatherings around the Great Salt Lake have been in the Shorelands Preserve. It has a number of diverse habitats, with saltwater and freshwater marshes along with sloughs, pools, and mudflats. It was actually the nature conservancy’s first Utah preserve.
Another great site to take the Layton RV rental is the Adams Canyon Trail, the most popular trail in the whole county. Highly accessible, Adams Canyon has a number of beautiful views of the valley below. It’s very rocky, blanketed in scrub oak and white pines and punctuated every here and there with waterfalls. The biggest of these is the 40-foot Adams Canyon Waterfall at the top. If you’re looking for some better views of the Great Salt Lake, though, you’ll be better off at Mueller Park Trail, a 13-mile stretch near
Bountiful
, covered from its base with pine and fir that give way to Gambel oak and bigtooth maple as you make your way up to the summit. In the final stretch, though, even these fade away, leaving little but stone behind as you approach Elephant Rock. From here, you’ll be able to see all of Mueller Park, Bountiful, the Great Salt Lake, the foothills, and Elephant Island. You also might be able to see some of Layton in the distance, though for views of that city you’d be better off braving Thurston Peak.
If you’re looking for a more family-friendly outdoors outing, consider taking the Layton camper rental out to Patsy’s Mine, a 200-foot tunnel system near
Farmington
. There aren’t any roads that lead directly to it, so you’ll have to hike a little way to get there. Once you’re in, though, you’ll be able to see exactly where the mine cart system was built. In the back, you can even check out a rusted old set of rail tracks!
