I get the premise of making things rare and making the journey worthwhile, but there comes a point when the reward is not worth the effort. I've spent about 6 sessions looking for salt. Within those sessions, I have begun to research more into it. I've walked 11,000 blocks to find a desert and look. I've looked in all the sedimentary blocks. I've dug into the thickest parts of the sediment and mined around to find some. Not only have I done this, but 2 other people in my world have also done this. It really burns you out. I think there needs to be some extra incentive or hint at where to find it. I don't have a whole lot of time to play these days and it is not fun to spend the time running thousands of blocks looking for something.
TL;DR 60 hours in... still no salt.