Utah Lake?

My wife and i are contemplating moving to Utah.
If we made the move the closest lake would be Utah lake. Is there any good riding on utah lake?It seems really wide open to wind and rather shallow. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Utah Lake............





Not my favorite riding location.....but there is some VERY good riding on Utah Lake. Added bonus, you are within an hour of 4-5 other riding locations. 4.5 hours from Powell..... 3.5 hours from Flaming Gorge.....

I should have ask where(city) you planned on moving to....

Right now we are looking at Saratoga Springs. We have friends that are already having a house built there, and we have family in Lehi, Draper and South Jordan. My wife is going to education week at BYU in 2 weeks and she's going to check out models while she is there. By the way those are some great shots. If we do go with saratoga springs we will only be 4 miles from the lake. So that would definitely be nice. How long is the riding season there?

we ride march to october. utah lake is great for early in the season since the other options are at higher elevations. But we usually stop going there in july due to a funky moss that grows on it, the bugs and it usually gets to shallow(but the last few years its stayed full). Saratoga has a new marina that is really nice and i think that side or the lake is better then the provo side.

Yea....what Tingey said.

Note, those shots are EARLY season, April....which is as soon as my season starts. Utah Lake starts to look much more brown/gray as the bottom churns up with more boats.

I'm interviewing for a job (a few locations, one in American Fork) next week.

How shallow is the lake? Private lakes don't churn up much at 6-8', so now you have me worried on the depth. Then again, there are no deep draft stern drives or blending rollers on private lakes either.

Does Utah lake freeze over? Are the marina's open all year? If we move there, I'm already planning a dry suit into the relocation costs.

I heard BYU runs a course (or used to) on the lake during the summer. Have any of you seen it? If so, do you know if they have AWSA restricitons on it?

I've done some homework on the private lakes along the Wasatch Front and club memebers that I emailed are pretty tight lipped about them. Does anyone have any contacts or more info?

Thanks!

There are no private lakes here that I am aware of. I heard word that they were trying/going to build one, but I don't know if that ever happened or is happening. There is SO MANY local lakes, I wouldn't join anyway.

Utah Lake is about 8-14' throughout.... There are BIG BOATS(relative) out there. Have an acquaintance that takes a 33' Sundancer out regularly.

I don't own a drysuit, the wife does....though she never gets in the water early season.... Utah Lake is in the high 50's in April.... I trunk it in anything over 58-59.... Hell, I'm from Utah.

Mountain lakes are around 70+ now... Utah Lake has to be pushing 80...77-79???

Utah Lake does not freeze over.

Actually there are 2 private lakes. One is Sunten out west of Tooele and the other is in Brigham City. Both are shallow hard core waterskier lakes.....

If you move to Saratoga you better buy Deep Woods OFF by the truckload!!!

Don't listen to Jim...it is after 4:00 and he has been drinking....

Jim, I am out of here(for the workday), but are you going out this weekend?

I think there are 4 more beyond those two. Two from WaterSkiMag's website.
One is around Plain City & one FarWest(NW of Roy).
There used to be one by a Flying J in Ogden (can't get any info on it) there was a course there when I was ...ehem last seen about 15 years ago.
There's one straight west of Payson (way west). Well somewhere out there I can't find it now. But it looks like a hot spot or a tourney is going on by the number of cars/boats on Google Maps. It's out by some dry farms.

(Message edited by HBSkier on August 03, 2006)

There are private ski lakes in Utah, just not very many. Utah lake is shallow so the temp does change fast. Utah lake does freeze over. Sometimes it may be frozen for a month at a time. We usually ride from March to end of October. We also live in Saratoga Springs in the main neighborhood with the private marina. The city is getting big and there are allot of people with boats now. Five years ago there was only a few boats on the west side of the lake. If you move out here please help educate people about not doing power turns. There is nothing to stop the rollers.

I was out on Utah Lake this morning, boy did the weather report get it wrong today! Suppose to be calm and wind only up to 5mph....NOT! Whitecapping with no protection from the wind. ***Thanks for the pull this morning Patrick!

Anyways Matt, Utah Lake can be very good for riding. The depth of the lake is around 10 feet still. Some spots are a little shallower but overall, still rideable. If you weight down a V-drive fully, the wake isn't as big as in the deeper, mountain lakes but again still good. Usually during the week though, you can get a lot of good riding in between 10am-4pm when the wind is calm. Saratoga Springs is booming and like Tingey said, better side of the lake to ride on.

But be prepared for the sudden storms that can roll out of nowhere. My first introduction to Utah Lake in 2002 was exactly that. First time I was ever "worried" on a boat in my life!

Wow....lived in Utah my entire life and have never seen Utah Lake frozen over? DC Bateman, you are saying the entire lake froze over? not just some ice on the sides...but the lake freezing over, like say Jordanelle....

Surprising to me as we rarely get THAT cold down in the valley. Then again, I don't go out on the lake in the Winter...but do drive by many times a year and it always looks open to me......????

Sweet guys, I apreciate all the feedback. If we do make the move i will be sure to let all of you know. You guys have got me pretty pumped.