Spiral Jetty
Modern Monument · Corinne, Utah
Robert Smithson's earthwork of April 1970 — a coil of mud, salt crystals and black basalt, 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide, running out counter-clockwise into the Great Salt Lake at Rozel Point. It is the best-known work of American land art and it has spent much of its life underwater: it was fully submerged when the Dia Art Foundation acquired it in 1999, and only sustained drought from the early 2000s exposed it for the first prolonged period in its history. By 2022 a mile of dry lakebed lay between it and the shore.
Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake north arm, Corinne, Utah, United States
FREE, with no ticket, no gate and no opening hours — it is an artwork on a remote shoreline, owned and maintained by the Dia Art Foundation. ⚠ THERE ARE NO FACILITIES OF ANY KIND: no water, no toilets and no bins, and Dia asks visitors to carry out everything they bring. ⚠ ACCESS IS ROUGHLY 16 MILES OF UNPAVED ROAD beyond Golden Spike National Historical Park, with no services and no mobile phone coverage; the road can be impassable after rain or snow. Carry a spare tyre, fuel and water, and tell someone where you are going — the nearest real services are at Brigham City or Corinne. ⚠ VISIBILITY DEPENDS ON THE LAKE LEVEL: the work was fully submerged when Dia acquired it in 1999 and has been exposed by sustained drought since the early 2000s, with a mile of dry lakebed between it and the shore as of 2022. Take nothing from the site — not salt crystals, not basalt.