Black Rock Desert the basin, is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes. The average annual precipitation "(years 1971-2000)" at Gerlach, Nevada (extreme south-west of the desert) is . The region is notable for its paleogeologic features, as an area of 19th-century Emigrant Trails to California, as a venue for rocketry, and as an alternative to the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah, for setting land speed records (Mach 1.02 in 1997). It is also the location for the annual Burning Man event. The Black Rock Desert is part of
Utah Olympic Park Track the highest recorded luge speed of on October 16, 2001 that made the "Guinness Book of World Records". Benshoof's speed record was eclipsed by Germany's Felix Loch on February 21, 2009 at the 2008-09 Luge World Cup season finale at the Whistler Sliding Centre in British Columbia, Canada when Loch reached a top speed of . Utah Olympic Park Track The Utah Olympic Park Track is a bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in the Utah Olympic Park, near Park City, Utah, United States. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, held nearby in Salt Lake City, the track hosted the bobsleigh,