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 Oval Utah Olympic Oval The Utah Olympic Oval is an indoor speed skating oval located southwest of Salt Lake City, in Kearns, Utah. The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the long track speed skating events for the 2002 games. Inside the facility the 400 meter skating track surrounds two international sized ice sheets, and is itself surrounded by a 442 meter running track. Due to its high altitude, , and the associated low air resistance, ten Olympic records and nine world records were set at the Oval during the 2002 games, the largest number of