"Galapagos of the Inter-Mountain West"

That's the best way for me to describe Antelope Island.

Yesterday Vince, Meg and I hiked the White Rock Loop.
The weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

While on the hike, we saw plenty of wildlife.
Pronghorn, Bison, Antelopes, Coyotes...
The mammal spread was awesome, but the birds were the best.
Gulls, Pelicans, Quail, Cranes...I think we even saw a variety of Ibis, too.

Sadly, there was only one hangup.
Brineflies...Swarms of them.
These things were only about the size of a pinhead.
But they got in our ears, our noses, our hair...it was crazy.
Fortunately, we didn't let those bugs bring us down.
We continued our journey, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

By the time we finished, we were tired and happy.
What did we do? We went to McD's where Meg and I put back all the chub we lost on the hike and Vince tore through the Jungle Gym the whole time.
7.5 miles later, and he still played on the gym.

Ok, on to the photos:

Here we are, rarin' to go at the trailhead. It was really breezy and cool in the morning.
You see that mountain behind us?...







...This is the view atop it.
The parking lot is barely visible, but there was a really great view of Buffalo Point (the hill) and White Rock Bay.






When we got to the park around noon, we were all pretty hungry.
However, we agreed to have lunch on Beacon Knob, the highest point of our hike. The view was beautiful and we even got to see a herd of Pronghorn grazing it up.
Where is Vince's hat? During this picture it was in my hand.
You see, the wind kept blowing it off and he wouldn't tell me. At this juncture, I had just searched a very large brown field laden with very large brown Bison chips for his very brown hat.
Yeah, I would've stapled it on his head if I could have.



This lonely little bench gave us a place to sit before starting our final leg of the trail. Even though we had smiles on our faces, we were still pretty beat.



Overall, I had a great time. I think we all did.

But I did learn some great lessons, though:
1) Bug Spray all around. Regardless of my predictions for insect bites.
2) Vincent must be changed at least once during these long hikes. No if's, and's or buts.
3) Sunblock must be re-applied at least twice.
4) Not thirsty? Drink anyway.
5) Tom, put a damned hat on that bald head!