The Mary Mountain Warmup (Van Cott Loop) - September 6, 2026

scatman

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With a week to go before my Mary Mountain hike in Yellowstone, I thought that it might be prudent to get a hike in this past weekend to stay in shape, or at least pretend that I'm in shape. Sheila, Katie and I headed back up Van Cott to see how things might be recovering since the fire back on June the 20th.

Review Image:
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They've got some of the parking lot torn up at the U of U, so we had to park further south than we normally do to start the loop

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View up Battle Gulch on the west side of Van Cott

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Burnt hillside above between Battle Gulch and Cephalopod Gulch

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Flood mitigation above the Huntsman Cancer Center for the heavy rains we had last week

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View up Cephalopod Gulch

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Alfalfa was the first plant to come back at the lower elevations. Can you spot the ladybug?

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Gumweed was also blooming low down

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And ragweed was coming out all over the mountain

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On the old Jeep road with the summit above

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Sumac was beginning to grow again along the old Jeep road

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Some washout (ruts) from our last big rain on the trail to gain the ridge

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Avenues Twin Peaks and Dry Canyon

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Higher up, snake weed was blooming

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Burn along the ridge

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Two folks and their pooch on the south summit of the Avenues Twin Peaks

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This sage didn't get burned back in June

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This was interesting - An tarantula hawk wasp had paralyzed a wolf spider and was dragging it off
the trail to lay eggs in it.

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The scrub oak on the ridge is starting some regrowth

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Black Mountain

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Aster higher up on the old Jeep road

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Some erosion here too

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The Salt Lake Valley from the Van Cott summit

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Black Mountain Ridge

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Type of arnica?

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Summit of Mount Wire to the southeast

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Ants survived the fire

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Dropping into Red Butte canyon

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Hairy goldenaster

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View back up at the summit

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Toadflax

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The want-a-be photographer. :)

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Snail shells contrasts well with the burnt ground

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Ghost forest

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Red Butte

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More shells

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View out Red Butte Canyon

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Mount Van Cott and the van Cott Ridgeline

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Walking down the road in Red Butte Canyon

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Golden grass and the base of Van Cott

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Back at the Sube.


The End.
 
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