The desert is cool during the winter and includes unusual plants adapted to the dry conditions.

[3] During Jedediah Smith's 1826-27 expedition, Robert Evans nearly died while crossing the desert [4] and in the 1840s, westward emigrants used the Hastings Cutoff through 130 miles (210 km) of Great Salt Lake desert to reduce the distance to California.

The 1846 Donner Party's difficulties in making the crossing contributed to their becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada.

In July 2022, archaeologists discovered about 88 footprints had been left behind by humans at least 12,000 years ago using ground-penetrating radar (GPR).

In the "ghost tracks", as the archaeologists called them, the footprints absorb moisture and are only visible when it rains and disappear when dry.