$105, includes transportation, a tour, and a box lunch.

Join us for a day of exploration at two sites where the landscape holds extraordinary stories — one etched in iron and ambition, the other coiled in rock and reflection. First stop is Golden Spike National Historical Park at Promontory Summit, where on May 10, 1869, the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads completed the first transcontinental railroad. During our visit, we will see a working replica of an original locomotive. The park offers a window into the remarkable convergence of cultures, labor, and ambition that reshaped the nation.

From there, we travel to the shore of the Great Salt Lake, where Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (1970) extends 1,500 feet into the lakebed in a counterclockwise coil of black basalt rock and earth. The earthwork engages with its surroundings — the rust-red water, the salt-crusted shore, the open sky — and with ideas of entropy, time, and landscape transformation. Once submerged beneath the rising lake waters, it reemerged in the early 2000s; and now sits a mile from the water's edge. Dr. Emily Lawhead, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Annie Burbidge Ream, Co-Director of Learning and Engagement, K-12 and Family Programs at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, will offer a short talk before attendees explore the site on their own.

Note: The bus ride is approximately 2 hours each way. This tour is mostly outdoors on open, unpaved terrain, with limited cell service in some areas. Restrooms are available at Golden Spike National Historical Park but not at the Spiral Jetty. Wear sturdy shoes and layers; hats, sunglasses, and sunblock are recommended. The Spiral Jetty site is not ADA accessible. The tour will proceed rain or shine. Attendees are encouraged to learn more about the Spiral Jetty before the tour by exploring resources here.

By registering, participants acknowledge that they undertake the journey at their own risk and that the Western Museums Association, the Utah Museums Association, the University of Utah, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts assume no liability for personal injuries or property.