The Sun Tunnels were created by American Artist Nancy Holt from 1973 to 1976.  The tunnels align with the sun on the summer and winter solstice so that when the sun rises and sets you can view it through the concrete tunnels.  There are also several portholes which you can peer out of and view the constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba and Capricorn.

Nancy Holt is quoted as saying the Sun Tunnels were created to be totally accessible to people.  And they would probably receive just as many visitors as a museum in a city.

Here is some interesting trivia.  Have you ever heard of Robert Smithson? He is the man who created the Spiral Jetty near Promontory Point in Utah.  Nancy Holt was married to Smithson.

Once I found the turn to the tunnels from the main road there are signs pointing you the rest of the way.  When you arrive, there aren’t any gates or fencing around the four tubes, you just park near them and explore.

The Sun Tunnels are not exactly tunnels.  They are simply four large concrete tubes which are about 18 feet in length and 9 feet in diameter arranged in an X pattern.  But Sun Tunnels sounds much better than Sun Concrete Tubes.

They aren’t painted or anything like that, they are just concrete tubes which are in similar color to the local salt/clay soil.

This place is very quiet and peaceful.  The stars are brighter out here too since the nearest city is Wendover some 40 miles to the south west and chances are you won’t see anyone else if you visit outside of the two solstice days each year.

It takes about 3 hours to come out here from Salt Lake City and there isn’t much to see and do unless you come on Summer or Winter Solstice.  But, yet again, I really enjoy the desert so I thought this place was kinda cool even though I couldn’t view the sun setting through the tunnels.

To view the sun, you stand at one end of the tunnels and view the sun rising and then when the sun is setting you view it from the opposite end.  You have to make sure you are looking through the right set of tunnels first though.

There are lots of cool mountains and old broken down buildings and cabins nearby to explore too.