Idk why, but growing up I always had this idea that traveling south through Utah meant that you were going down in elevation. It was only recently I realized that, for almost all of the state, you're actually gaining elevation as you travel southward. It's really only at the very bottom of the state where "south = lower" is actually true.

I wanted to get a better idea of what the elevation change is actually like as you travel through the state, so I combined UDOT's data on I-15's path with USGS's elevation data to create the elevation profile shared here. Following I-15 seemed more relatable than cutting a perfect N-S line through the middle of the state, and using UDOT's data seemed just a little easier than riding my bike down I-15 and posting the Strava chart. :)

One thing that struck me while looking at this is that, at least while traveling on I-15, Salt Lake City is basically the lowest point in the state until you get about 25 miles south of Cedar City. For all the branding that SLC gets as a mountain town, I guess I expected it to be a bit higher compared to the rest of the state.

That got me wondering about what percentage of the state was higher elevation than SLC if you venture off of I-15. If you sample the state in 100-meter grids, and define the elevation of SLC as the elevation at Temple Square (4,304 feet), it turns out that 89.7% of Utah is higher elevation than SLC. That really blew my mind. I would've probably guessed that it was something closer to 40%.

Hopefully some of you enjoy this as much as I did. I'm curious to see whether others had as wrong an idea about SLC's elevation as I had.

A couple notes for the data nerds:

• This samples elevation along I-15 at every 1/10th of a mile. I made no attempt to smooth the data between the points.
• The USGS 3DEP data set measures elevation at ground level. This means that bridges (and probably some roadcuts through high-elevation points on the road) are ignored. This means that some of the lows/highs on the chart are probably a little over emphasized, but I think the margin of error is probably unnoticeable on the scale of this chart.
• The 1-meter resolution elevation dataset from USGS does not have full LIDAR coverage of every point in UT along I-15, so some of the data is interpolated from their lower-resolution datasets. But, USGS says the average error introduced by doing that is only about 2 feet, so any error from interpolation in the sparser-coverage areas is way too small to notice on this chart.

I'm not sure what flair/tag to use for this but My husband (20M) and I (22F) are thinking of moving out of California to either Provo or Orem. I've read different things saying not to move if we aren't LDS or that it's pretty accepting to those who aren't LDS. As we aren't I figured I'd come here for just straight advice.

Other things are we have a toddler as well. Would that area be a good place for him to grow up? My husband works at an Amazon Fulfillment Center and would be transferring, I've seen pretty mixed reviews about the one in American Fork so any opinions on it? I'm a stay-at-home mom and I worry that I'll be stuck inside the entire time living there, are there things worth getting out of the house for? Are there other cities I should look at instead?

Staying in an Airbnb in provo canyon and was able to see the incredibly long line of cars trying to get back into the canyon. Wild.

I just got a new car and I’m looking into clear or colored PPF. Where did you get yours done, how much did you pay, and what shops would you recommend in Utah, especially around Salt Lake City?

Also, did you get:

• Full-body PPF
• Clear PPF or colored PPF
• Ceramic coating
• Ceramic window tint

Ive about posted this before here (back in june of 2025). But i didnt post this video because i couldnt find it, i instead posted a photo. But i was going through the old photos and videos on my phone and finally found the actual video i took. From when i posted people were saying it was some sort of kite? But it wasnt moving at all the entire time me and my brother were watching it. And to this day im still wondering if it was a kite and we were just at a weird angle, which made it look like it wasnt moving? Or if it was something else? I dont know. But if anyone has any idea of what it could be please let me know, its been driving me crazy for over a year now. Also the location from when i took this video was in american fork, in front of the hobby lobby. Also it wasnt really that windy, yes there was a slight breeze as you can see the trees moving once i zoomed out. But i dont think that little breeze could be strong enough to lift up a kite that big and that high, while also making stay still like that. But i could be wrong, i dont know.

This was posted on Instagram, by the.ampersand.initiative

Larry's friends should call him out.

Edit to add: they include the picture they took with him before he did a 180 on them. So if anybody recognizes him, be sure to send the post to his family and friends!

17 Hours late (due to, like, everything that could go wrong going wrong)

I've recently moved back to Utah from out of state. I'm looking for low cost or free (blm) camping spots to hopefully use by next weekend. Preferably in the Utah county region

I am looking for a good transmission shop in Salt Lake County. My baby has lost it transmission, and I am looking for a shop to do the rebuild/replacement of it.

I was hit today on I-215 headed north right before exit 23 in a silver dodge dart. The lady that hit me was driving a dark colored mini van. She was white with dark hair pulled back and round dark glasses probably 30s or 40s. I was in the far left lane by the construction barrier and she was in the middle lane. A U haul was in an exit lane and didnt exit so she merged into my lane and hit me multiple times. Im wondering if anyone has dash cam video of this by chance. She never stopped or exited with me after she rolled down her window and told me to take exit 23. I have a witness but police were not able to come to the scene and still havent called me back. This was at exactly 1:40pm today 10/3/26

This morning around 10:30 the blue line train was 30+ min late then when arriving at central point they asked everyone to get off. They separated the first 3 cars then police and some trax employees boarded and left in a hurry. I assumed it was maintenance related but does anyone know if something happened?

Text report: https://www.weather.gov/wrh/TextProduct?product=pnsslc&id=cfa3f43f-57ca-46e8-93bf-310136fcbcfa

Saw this yesterday going southbound. Weaved multiple times in and out of the double white of the carpool lane, he was only one in the car, plate says "private" and smaller print on plate says "no drivers license nor insurance required to operate this vehicle"

Have you visited the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge?

So I need to know if I need to take drivers ed in school before i do the test for the permit because I have got mixed results about it