Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels, 1973-1976 - Wendover, Utah (September, 2023)
Background
Four large concrete cylinders site on a 40 acre plot in the Great Basin Desert in empy northwestern area of Utah, arranged in a cross pattern, that align with the sunrise and sunset on the summer and winter solstices. Each cylinder has an outside diameter of 9’2.5” and an inside diameter of 8’, and each one weights 22 tons.
Designed by Nancy Holt, each of the cylinders has holes bored through it to represent constellations. Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn are each one cylinder respectively. As far as we could tell, they do not align with the sky correctly… however, when the sun comes through, the interior of the cylinder will be illuminated to show the respective constellation. Different hole sizes based on the magnitude of the stars of which they correspond to.
A close up of the holes from the interior fo one of the columns, creates a fun keyhole style view of the surrounding vast landscape
It’s in a large flat valley with little vegetation, worn down by the receded Lake Bonneville (of the Bonneville Salt Flats). It’s remote and relatively inconvenient to get to, which is kind of the point.
Holt is one of the best known land artists, and this is her best known piece.
Travel
You can only get here by car, though I suppose you could walk if you had a lot of time and were in good shape. Any standard GPS should be able to get you there with no problem. You want to get on Highway West 80 (which turns into Highway 233 / Montello Road in Nevada). It is a normal well paved highway that is clearly marked. You’ll turn off on Pilot Mountain Road (dirt road), towards the ghost town of Lucin. You’ll cross some train tracks, and just keep following the map for Sun Tunnels. You can technically follow these dirt roads south (if you want to head to Wendover), but the speed you’ll be able to go isn’t worth the distance, you might as well return North (along the route I described), and reconnect with Highway 80 to go south again.
This is the 11 mile portion that is on dirt roads, progressively getting less consistent as you get closer to Sun Tunnels
There are no facilities nearby Sun Tunnels. Google says there’s a small gas station and grocer in Montello 31 miles / 40 minutes away, but it seems to have limited hours and I wouldn’t rely on it. 95 miles / 100 minutes northeast is the town of Snowville that has a full gas station and convenience store, restrooms, and motels (actually a motel) if you want to stay there for an evening. The opposite direction 85 miles / 90 minutes away is West Wendover / Wendover on the Nevada / Utah border. It has many more options for food, accommodations, and supplies. I’d suggest going there in tandem with Sun Tunnels. We stayed the night there, before heading back to Salt Lake City (a straight shot east 125 miles / 105 minutes away)
Our full route around the Great Salt Lake with three main stops (Spiral Jetty, Sun Tunnels, and the Bonneville Salt Flats)
For detailed directions you could use this website as a printout or refer to the official website. A vehicle with some height / clearance will be helpful for the dirt roads, but nothing is particularly difficult to require AWD. It is free to visit. Standard rules apply; “leave no trace”, do not tamper with the artwork, make fire pits, or trample vegetation.
The Great Basin Desert is one of the four defined deserts in North America (interestingly this one and Mojave and Sonoran are all adjacent to one another, but are considered unique, because of vegetation and weather differences), most of Nevada lies in this desert.
You can (like we did) combine this piece with Spiral Jetty and The Bonneville Salt Flats. There’s basically only two ways to get to Sun Tunnels, one is from the north east (which would be easy to couple with Spiral Jetty; see my previous post on this) and the other is from the southwest (which would be easy to couple with The Bonneville Salt Flats. It’s important, when navigating to the latter, to type in Bonneville Salt Flats International Raceway. Let’s go on a quick detour to this natural gem.
If you just type in Bonneville Salt Flats, it’ll send you to the Salt Flats Rest Area Westbound, and because there are few exits to turnaround at, this is a 30+ minute detour. I know from experience. The Salt Flats Rest Area, was also not that nice. It’s pretty crowded and the area is quite touristed. Lots of instagrammers, tiktokkers, and folks there trying to get the social media video, so it’s hard to enjoy it. And with everyone right there, the salt is pretty beat up, and not as clean and white. We had to walk pretty far out to get to a worthwhile view.
We came from the West (Wendover) and the exit for the Speedway is pretty immediate on I-80, make sure you take it, because the next opportunity to turnaround is quite far. The Bonneville Speedway Road is very straight (and you can really fly down it, I nearly got to 100 mph). At the end you can drive right off the roads and onto the flats themselves, and then you can just drive and drift around. It is otherworldly and freeing. There’s plenty of space, so just meander off and find your own little area. Definitely keep your head on a swivel since people we driving every which direction. Luckily it’s very obvious because everything stands out against the white salt. There are plenty of folks just hanging out and playing with drones and model airplanes, and just chilling.
My friend (the national park ranger) was surprised we were interested in going out there. “It’s a whole lot of nothing. In the middle of nowhere.” And he’s not wrong, it’s incredibly flat, with an unwordly white floor that’s so bright, I highly recommend sunglasses, and a lot of sunblock. The reflection starts burning your retinas after awhile. You need shoes that can get dirty / withstand the elements, or just go sandals like Mattos and just be fully exposed to salt.
There are pockets of rain water still remaining, so you’ll definitely get a tad wet too. But it was totally worth it. We drove pretty fast on the flats, but I never totally trusted it, so we never pushed it like we did on the paved straightaway. Every so often you might hit a little uneven patch, so it didn’t feel worth it to risk it. But spraying water around was fun too, just don’t park in the wet areas or your vehicle might get stuck. It’s sort of like being in a snowy field, except it isn’t cold, visibility isn’t limited, and the ground is hard.
Wet salt corroding the rental car
Afterwards, you will need to wash the car, because you’ll have salt everywhere. The car wash in Salt Lake City was experienced, and had us go through the system twice to get clean enough before we returned the car.
Experience
Alright, back to the main event. We went in September, 2023, as part of our long weekend Utah getaway. For city folk, escaping to the great outdoors is quite enticing. After we had visited Spiral Jetty and the Golden Spike National Historical Park in the morning, we killed the hottest part of the day in Trementon and Snowville. It was about an hour and 45 minute drive to Sun Tunnels from Snowville. Stocked up on candy and caffeinated beverages, we listened to a lot of Sons of the East (great band, good for stomp and holler road trips), and arrived around 5/6 PM with plenty of time for daylight and sunset.
It’s remote and incredible. There are just a handful of shacks out there, not much. No facilities at all, minimal signage. We only saw a couple cars drive by in the distance, but no one else was there on this Saturday afternoon. The Pilot Range Mountains along the border of Nevada and Utah to the West, whereas there’s just empty shrub / desert in the other directions.
There is minimal to no cell service. So download content beforehand (like this guidebook or this review), there are no plaques or reading material. It is noticeably cooler hanging out inside the cylinders to escape the sun, but when the sun starts to set, the temperature drops noticeably. Bring a jacket to stay warm.
These solid 22 ton cylinders are unmovable, and after some exploration, it became clear I had to climb it. We figured there’s no way I could do any damage to it, and the interiors of them clearly had plenty of wear and tear from people… rollerblading? That would be crazy, perhaps just rolling balls in it and scratching it up. Luckily, the constellation holes are decent holds for climbing, albeit a bit high. We were experienced enough to bring drinks and snacks with us. I climbed up with a beer in my pocket, and cracked it open on top and had myself a lovely time.
Being on top also made for some really cool photos messing with the perspective and utilizing the constellation holes.
We spent about 3 hours here, and never saw another person. As the sun set, the more dramatic golden hour light looked great, however it does take awhile for the light to dim enough to allow the stars to shine. So expect to wait another hour at least after sunset to get any good star gazing in. But there definitely are some high quality night photos available.
Don’t mind a couple of Mattos’ feet in the caught in the center of the panorama
Summary
Everyone should go. This was one of my favorites that we have trekked out to. It is a cool experience. Interactive and beautiful. I recognize it’s pretty inconvenient, but if you’re ever in the area, you should go.
Sources
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, "Sun Tunnels," Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://umfa.utah.edu/land-art/sun-tunnels.
Holt/Smithson Foundation, "Sun Tunnels," Holt/Smithson Foundation, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/sun-tunnels.
Dia Art Foundation, "Nancy Holt: Sun Tunnels," Dia Art Foundation, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/nancy-holt-sun-tunnels.
Utah.com, "Nancy Holt Sun Tunnels," Utah.com, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://www.utah.com/destinations/cities-towns/wendover/things-to-do/nancy-holt-sun-tunnels/.
Atlas Obscura, "Sun Tunnels," Atlas Obscura, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sun-tunnels.
Holt/Smithson Foundation, "Everything and Nothing: Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels, 1973-76," Holt/Smithson Foundation, Accessed April 30th, 2024, https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/everything-and-nothing-nancy-holts-sun-tunnels-1973-76.
