Photos: Spiral Jetty, Robert Smithson's wondrous earthwork

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, one of the world's most famous earthworks, sits on the north side of the Great Salt Lake, near Promontory Summit. The artwork, which Smithson built in 1970, has had an interesting history, including spending years submerged under a sustained higher lake level.

Today, it is fully uncovered, but the thousands of volcanic basalt rocks that make up Spiral Jetty no longer stick up three feet above the salt-encrusted surface of the lake, as they did when the piece was first built.

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman visited Spiral Jetty as part of his Road Trip 2009 project.

A low angle look at Spiral Jetty from in front, just off the north shore of the Great Salt Lake.

Robert Smithson, the artist who created Spiral Jetty, died in 1973, just three years after the earthwork was installed. Today it is managed by the Dia Art Foundation.

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A view of Spiral Jetty from the approach to the earthwork.

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A view from inside Spiral Jetty with all the rings of the spiral visible.

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The curved center of Spiral Jetty.

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The center of the spiral, looking out at the Great Salt Lake.

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The outer rings of Spiral Jetty.

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A view of the center of Spiral Jetty and the mountains that are on the other side of the Great Salt Lake.

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The outer rings of the world-famous earthwork, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.

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Two people walking through Spiral Jetty give a sense of the earthwork's scale.

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A direct view of the center of Spiral Jetty.

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The Audi Q7 TDI, which he took to Spiral Jetty, that CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman is driving on Road Trip 2009.