Mount Van Cott Loop (Burnt edition) - June 27, 2026

scatman

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Got up early this morning and headed to Mount Van Cott to see what the fire had done to it from last weekend.

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Mount Van Cott is the ridge just east and above the hill with the "U" on it. I'm walking along 11th Ave. to get to the trail.

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This is new, some bike lockups and restrooms at Popperton

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A deer looking at me through the fence wondering, "What is he doing up so early in the morning?'

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The burn line of the Bonneville Fire

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Dropping down to the mouth of Dry Canyon

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You can see the old Jeep road cut on the side of the hill that I'll be taking most of the way to the summit

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A single fire hose running up Dry Canyon

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A couple of shots showing how close the Huntsman Cancer Institute is to the burn scar

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On the Shoreline Trail, I'll be taking a left at the intersection for the old Jeep road.

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Nice contrast

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Heading up the hill on the old Jeep road

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Looking back down towards Dry Canyon and "U" Hill. The orange you see on "U" Hill is from fire retardant dropped from a plane

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The Shoreline Trail was the fire break a little further south.

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University of Utah Hospital below

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The way to the top

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Sumac that didn't make it

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A little tuft of burned grass

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Bottom burned, top not

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I like the contrast

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The thistles seemed to come through better than the other plants

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Northern Van Cott Trail

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Scrub oak on the ridge with its base burned

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View down into Dry Canyon where you can see that more retardant was dropped

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This gumweed plant survived the fire

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A small burned sage

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Working my way up the ridge

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The summit above

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First living animal that I saw - a small beetle crossing the trail

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Burned scrub oak on the edge of the ridge

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More burned scrub

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A tiny burned sage

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Charred oak leaves

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Silhouette of a Spotted Towhee

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And one on the trail in front of me

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First view of Black Mountain Ridge

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Looking back towards the city

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And forward towards the summit

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Looking back towards the Dude Benchmark in the distance

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A crumpled penstemon

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All that was left of the Sego Lilies from last Saturday

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Some goldenrod near the summit - some areas near the summit did not burn

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Black Mountain Ridge

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View down the burned southern ridge of Van Cott

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View towards Mount Wire, which was not affected by the fire

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The wasp eggs on the oak leaves that didn't burn seemed to have survived

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Summit shot

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The old trusty tripod and the Canon 5D Mark III

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As close as the burn got to the summit

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A look at the way that I came up

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Burned scrub as I start down into Red Butte Canyon

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So overjoyed to see that this little guy survived.

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More burned scrub, the fire burned everything off of their branches

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Some singed thistle

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The trail down into Red Butte Canyon

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A look back up towards the summit of Van Cott

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One of the south trails up Van Cott

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The Van Cott Trail

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Some burned lichen

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More thistle

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Uh-oh, the authorities!

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This buckwheat survived

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View towards the Red Butte Reservoir and dam

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Burned Mule's Ears

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This Yarrow survived in a small patch that didn't burn

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Bumblebee on a thistle flower

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Trail down into Red Butte Canyon

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More severely burned trees

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Look back up the hill

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I ran into some firefighters (Forest Service and local) and they told me that the canyon road was closed and that I'd have to go
around Red Butte to get out.

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First time that I have ever seen the gate open into the restricted area

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Red Butte Creek

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A couple of the local firefighters down on the road

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View across the canyon at Van Cott

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And towards the water tanks on the side of the hill

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Working my way around Red Butte Gardens

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Van Cott ridgeline

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An Aster

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The water tanks again

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An old blacksmith shop on Red Butte Garden's property

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A second southern trail off of Van Cott

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And the third southern trail off of Van Cott near the end of the ridge. It is the steepest of the three.


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The burned Mount Van Cott

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Contour elevation at the Natural History Museum

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West end of Red Butte, and the Natural History Museum above

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The hook-and-ladder is after the Scatman! If @TractorDoc had the front wheel and Scatman had the rear one, just think what
trouble we could get into @Rockskipper. :D

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Southwest ridge of Van Cott. Wonderful contrast.

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A burned Battle Gulch

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Some of the ridgeline was spared thanks to a retardant drop

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View of the trail that I usually take on the northwest ridge when I summit Van Cott

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View up Cephalopod Gulch

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The closet that the fire got to the hospital (cancer center). This trail is just west and below the Bonneville Shoreline Trail

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Heading back to Dry Canyon to close the lollipop loop

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Life Flight is landing at the hospital

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Looking down at the mouth of Dry Canyon

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Somebody has been working on the hoses since I went up

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The authorities, making sure no one heads up Dry Canyon

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More authorities tell these cyclists that they will have to turn around. By the way, I did that same Salt Lake Century years ago, and
I have the same jersey as the guy on the left.

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Storm brewing north of the Avenues Twin Peaks towards the head of City Creek Canyon

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And what do we have here? Something was going on at the Shriners' Hospital. Just think Skipper, if you had the wheel and I had
the rear we could get into some big trouble! :D

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They apparently were having a car show at Shriners. Most of the cars were corvettes.

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It started to rain so everyone scrambled. Nasty looking to the north.

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Heading back home along 11th Ave.

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Home sweet home!



The End.
 
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