Author: Paul

The guy who figured out where this should be has a state named after him (not just for this — he did a lot of other things that got him his notoriety).

About 30,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville formed in what is now western Utah. This lake was massive — way larger than The Great Salt Lake, about 83,000 km²

About 15,000 years ago, a natural dam, at Red Rock Pass in eastern Idaho, which had helped create the lake, collapsed, creating The Bonneville Flood, considered the 2nd largest flood in recorded geologic history.

After the water had mostly run off, it left behind, among other things, this perfectly flat salt pan. The surface is kept flat because of a constant yearly cycle of winter flooding and spring/summer drying.

Because of this nearly flawlessly flat surface, the Salt Flats make a great surface for setting speed records. The first land speed record was set there in 1914, and many others have followed.

This location is highway rest stop on I-80 about 10 miles west of Wendover, Utah. Here, the state of Utah has set up an information station for those who want to walk out onto the flats

Those who raced out to the site before the hint were:

• hhgygy
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• mehmet durmus
• Glenmorren
• Robin
• Ashwini Agrawal
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Jeather
• Rob de Wolff
• Chris Nason
• David Kozina

And after the hint:

• Gillian B
• donaaronio

Fast *and* corrosive!

When it was inscribed as a UNESCO WHC, the petition stated, in part, “Henderson Island, which lies in the eastern South Pacific, is one of the few atolls in the world whose ecology has been practically untouched by a human presence.” And the beaches looked like this:

Well, that was in 1988. Today, the island’s beaches look like this:

Compliments of it’s location on edge of the South Pacific Gyre and the vast amounts of trash that are accumulated and concentrated by the gyre, Henderson Island is now considered by some scientists as the most densely polluted place on earth. A study published in April of this year found almost 38 Million pieces of plastic rubbish on the island’s beaches, with an up to nearly 300 additional pieces washing up each day.

Those who found the site before the hint (no cute quips today — it’s just not funny):

• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse
• Luís Filipe Miguel
• Garfield
• donaaronio
• hhgygy
• Jeather
• Phil Ower
• mehmet durmus
• Glenmorren

And after the hint:

• Ashwini Agrawal
• Robin
• Tim

It’s supposed to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site, not a landfill.

I once drove across Wyoming east to west. We came into the state from Colorado and picked up I-80 in Cheyenne. From Cheyenne, Little America is 293 miles (472KM). Shortly after leaving the Cheyenne city limits, I saw my first Little America billboard. There was no indication of how far away it was, only that they had “50¢ Cones”. About 2-3 miles later, there was another one that said “Stay Tonight”

3 hours later, we started to get actual distances on the billboards.

4 hours after the first billboard, about 60 miles from the Wyoming / Nevada UTAH (thanks David K. for catching the error) border, and a couple of hundred billboards later, we arrived at “Little America”.

This is a gas station/hotel complex that grew over time. They have a restaurant (with the 50¢ cones). Upon entering the restaurant, you are greeted by a stuffed penguin in a glass case (Captain LeStadt’s Penguin, to be specific). The restaurant has a pretty decent pecan pie (I grew up eating pecan pie, so I know pecan pie … it was good, though not great).

We got gas and moved on.

Those who found this place included:

• Glenmorren
• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse
• Garfield
• Ashwini Agrawal
• Phil Ower
• Jeather
• David Kozina

and after the hint:

• mehmet durmus
• hhgygy
• Robin
• donaaronio

Known for a penguin, pecan pie, 50 cent cones, and billboards … SO MANY BILLBOARDS!!!