Album The members of backcountrypost.com

[TheMountainRabbit]

‘Twas a bright crispy morning for some skiing at our local ski area! My 12 yr old granddaughter and I enjoying a bluebird sky day.

We spent our Presidents' Day skiing as well! Beautiful day here, too - a little too warm in the PM. And now that my boys are getting a lot more independent, I'm starting to actually improve (a little).

Avenues Twin Peaks this afternoon.

Glad to see you're back out there! I've missed the weekly @scatman trip reports. Hope the recovery continues to go well!

 

[scatman]

We spent our Presidents' Day skiing as well! Beautiful day here, too - a little too warm in the PM. And now that my boys are getting a lot more independent, I'm starting to actually improve (a little).
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Glad to see you're back out there! I've missed the weekly @scatman trip reports. Hope the recovery continues to go well!

Thanks @TheMountainRabbit. It feels good to be out and about again. Not sure how many hikes I'll get in before May because I've got to get in cycling shape for the century ride on May 11th, so I'll be riding on weekends most likely if the weather cooperates. I'm too old to do both cycling and hiking at the same time anymore.

 

[scatman]

I'm just going to call my late winter, early spring hikes the Foothill Circuit, as I pretty much do the same routine every year around this time.

With temps in the 50's today in Salt Lake, today's hike was to the top of Mount Van Cott.

Fired up for Van Cott


Knees are screaming at me already!


Saw three common storksbill plants already blooming on the way up


I took a wide angled lens today (20-35mm), so a wide shot of Van Cott above


Guy on the left is 78 years old, and the guy on the right is 83. Both men summited Van Cott. Sheila and I stopped and chatted with them for awhile before continuing on. I almost told them about one of @Bob's horse trail stories, but decided against it, afraid it would ruin their good moods. I hope that I'm able to summit Van Cott when I am 83.


A look across Dry Canyon at the Avenues' Twin Peaks, where we were last Monday


Black Mountain to the northeast of our position


Mount Wire


On top shot


Tripod used to take the shot.


I hauled up a 300 mm lens in my pack, so we stopped and ate a couple of Fig Newtons while I changed lenses.


I took a shot of the airplane beacon on the summit of Mount Wire with the lens


heading home


Van Cott garb. The Dude Benchmark to my left in the distance.


Back at the Sube


And look who was waiting for us when we returned home.

 

[Bob]

I'm just going to call my late winter, early spring hikes the Foothill Circuit, as I pretty much do the same routine every year around this time.

With temps in the 50's today in Salt Lake, today's hike was to the top of Mount Van Cott.

Fired up for Van Cott
View attachment 129682

Knees are screaming at me already!
View attachment 129683

Saw three common storksbill plants already blooming on the way up
View attachment 129684

I took a wide angled lens today (20-35mm), so a wide shot of Van Cott above
View attachment 129685

Guy on the left is 78 years old, and the guy on the right is 83. Both men summited Van Cott. Sheila and I stopped and chatted with them for awhile before continuing on. I almost told them about one of @Bob's horse trail stories, but decided against it, afraid it would ruin their good moods. I hope that I'm able to summit Van Cott when I am 83.
View attachment 129686

A look across Dry Canyon at the Avenues' Twin Peaks, where we were last Monday
View attachment 129687

Black Mountain to the northeast of our position
View attachment 129688

Mount Wire
View attachment 129689

On top shot
View attachment 129690

Tripod used to take the shot.
View attachment 129691

I hauled up a 300 mm lens in my pack, so we stopped and ate a couple of Fig Newtons while I changed lenses.
View attachment 129692

I took a shot of the airplane beacon on the summit of Mount Wire with the lens
View attachment 129693

heading home
View attachment 129694

Van Cott garb. The Dude Benchmark to my left in the distance.
View attachment 129695

Back at the Sube
View attachment 129696

And look who was waiting for us when we returned home.
View attachment 129697

He has a you left me with no food..... Don't do that again look

 

[scatman]

Our last extension up City Creek this morning, this time to the water treatment plant that is being updated which will keep the canyon closed during the week for the next three years. Our total walking distance was 10.3 miles.

Squirrel in a tree


Oregon grape


Smokey on guard


South ridge of City Creek Canyon


Burro Peak


Sheila worked me today.


Stuck at the 2.5 mile marker


Hornets nest


Nearing the construction zone


Still some snow


Much better at the 3.0 mile marker.


Arriving at the water treatment plant, our turn around point


Heading home. Hurry up slow poke!


My reaction after an e-bike passed us.


Somebody has beat the Scat Family to the Saint Paddy Day decorations.

 

[scatman]

A 22 mile ride along the Legacy bike path this morning/early afternoon.

Sheila, fired up for our first tandem ride in 9 years.


Not quite as excited.


The tandem is purring at the access point. 34 degrees at the start, but it warmed up nicely to 46 by the time we completed the ride.


View along the Legacy


Approaching a short tunnel


4 miles! It feels more like ten.


No look shot of Sheila. I learned this technique for the @TractorDoc.


Heading into some more rural country


A bovine greeting party


Francis Peak above Farmington, with a couple of air traffic control towers on top


Zoomed in on the domes


Of course we had to stop a pet the cat.


I had to get my fair share of petting in to.




We biffed it at our turn around point, ended up breaking my seat and bending my pump. I guess that is why Sheila isn't smiling.


Landed on my left hip. Ouch! These gates were a pain in the ass on a tendem.


Just never know what you are going to run into on the Legacy.


All done. We had a nice headwind heading back south which kind of wore me out. A good first effort though.


Had to stop by Cranky's for a new seat.



Leaving Cranky's and heading for some pizza.

 

[TractorDoc]

We biffed it at our turn around point, ended up breaking my seat and bending my pump.

Sooo, did you have to ride 11 miles back to the Sube with no seat? That sounds uncomfortable. Or did Shelia let you sit on her handlebars?

Decided it was time to get serious if I have a chance of making it to Hidden Creek later this year, so I dusted off the big pack and threw in a paver brick plus a 10lb. dumbbell for a Saturday hike. It has been rainy this week so Mrs. TractorDoc and I headed down to Mohican State Park to check out the waterfalls.

Before we could make it to the trailhead we stopped at side by side coffee and donut trucks parked nearby. City Sipps Coffee (actually hot chocolate for me) and The Roaming Donut get a thumbs up. Had to include the second picture so you could see what was in the box.



Waterfalls were in good form today.

First was Little Lyons Falls.



Followed by Big Lyons Falls.



While crossing a small creek I heard an eerie @scatman whisper in my ear that said "What is up that drainage?" I followed the water up to this cool little feature that I imagine dries up in the warmer months.



Back at the car I decided to make a short side trip to Hemlock Falls -- someplace we had not yet visited. A short hike from the parking area gets you to the base of this impressive waterfall.



On the way home we stopped in Loudonville and had lunch/supper at the Black Fork Bistro. It was worth it just for the Cherry Vanilla Soda!



"Members of BCP" obligatory pic. Unlike the tree behind me I try to avoid being unsafe.

 

[kwc]

@TractorDoc … good to see that you’re also training for the post hike meal! Keep up the good work.

 

[Bob]

Your bringing a box of donuts right?

 

[Perry]

It has been a really long time since I posted here on BCP. I finally have gotten some of my passion for hiking back and since I now live near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon I have been getting out, exploring some of the local trails. My goto is Bell Canyon for getting some excercise and exploring the opportunities in the area. The other day I decided to start exploring along the ridge separating Bell Canyon from Little Cottonwood Canyon with an eye on a route to North Thunder Mountain some day. So off I went on an afternoon.


A shot across the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon to the north...




Snow's getting a bit deeper but trail is easy to follow so far...




This is a far as I have time to go today but the views are pretty nice. Time for a obligatory selfie...




Some nice evening light on the canyon...




Looking further on up the ridge with North Thunder mountain way up there. When the snow gets a little less deep I hope to bag it and drop down into upper Bell Canyon for a return...




Grabbed a quick pano before heading down...

 

[Ugly]

It has been a really long time since I posted here on BCP. I finally have gotten some of my passion for hiking back and since I now live near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon I have been getting out, exploring some of the local trails. My goto is Bell Canyon for getting some excercise and exploring the opportunities in the area. The other day I decided to start exploring along the ridge separating Bell Canyon from Little Cottonwood Canyon with an eye on a route to North Thunder Mountain some day. So off I went on an afternoon.

Nice to hear from you Perry.
Bell is a fun explore when you are up away from everyone or anywhere past where people stop at the waterfall. I imagine the ridge gets spicy as you hit the Bells- that portion is just out of sight over/behind the ridge in your second to last photo. I am def interested though.

 

[scatman]

Sooo, did you have to ride 11 miles back to the Sube with no seat? That sounds uncomfortable. Or did Shelia let you sit on her handlebars?

Decided it was time to get serious if I have a chance of making it to Hidden Creek later this year, so I dusted off the big pack and threw in a paver brick plus a 10lb. dumbbell for a Saturday hike. It has been rainy this week so Mrs. TractorDoc and I headed down to Mohican State Park to check out the waterfalls.

Before we could make it to the trailhead we stopped at side by side coffee and donut trucks parked nearby. City Sipps Coffee (actually hot chocolate for me) and The Roaming Donut get a thumbs up. Had to include the second picture so you could see what was in the box.

You don't need to be training. I think you should stay home and have a couple of Twinkies every day from now until July, that way I'll be able to keep up with you - maybe.

Okay, here's the scoop on the tandem incident:

So normally, we ride on the Legacy bike path from North Salt Lake to Farmington. This is an 11 mile ride one way, and 22 round trip. But on our ride on Saturday, they had us detour onto the Denver and Rio Grande rails to trails pathway. I think the detour was just after the 8 mile marker on the Legacy path, but I wasn't paying too much attention at the time of the detour.

The problem with the Denver & Rio Grande path is that every time you cross and east-west road, there are gates with offset arms on either side of the street. The offset is not wide enough to ride a tandem through the opening, so Sheila and I would have to dismount at every road crossing, and then get back on once we walked through each northern gate. We were actually going to go and addition mile (total of 23 for the ride) to the next gate/road, but when we got back on the tandem and started to pedal, Sheila shifted her body just enough to where I couldn't keep us steady enough for the slow speed we were going and thus we tipped over. I landed on the side of my large derrière and the outside of my left knee. Somehow the force of me landing on the pavement broke a hard plastic piece underneath the front saddle where the front end of the rails slides into. This made it easy for the back end of the rods of the rails to slide out the back end of the saddle. Sheila tired to push on the back of the seat while were riding back to the car to keep it in place, but with my large backside, it was difficult to keep it in place, and every time we got to gate, the seat would fall off as I dismounted. Needless to say, it took us awhile to ride back to the Sube.

For those who don't like Scatman's buttocks, now would be the time to look away.



With this contusion and the one on the side of my left knee, I've been hobbled this week.

 

[The Trout Whisperer]

Ouch!

 

[Jackson]

It has been a really long time since I posted here on BCP. I finally have gotten some of my passion for hiking back and since I now live near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon I have been getting out, exploring some of the local trails. My goto is Bell Canyon for getting some excercise and exploring the opportunities in the area. The other day I decided to start exploring along the ridge separating Bell Canyon from Little Cottonwood Canyon with an eye on a route to North Thunder Mountain some day. So off I went on an afternoon.


A shot across the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon to the north...

View attachment 129984


Snow's getting a bit deeper but trail is easy to follow so far...

View attachment 129985


This is a far as I have time to go today but the views are pretty nice. Time for a obligatory selfie...

View attachment 129986


Some nice evening light on the canyon...

View attachment 129987


Looking further on up the ridge with North Thunder mountain way up there. When the snow gets a little less deep I hope to bag it and drop down into upper Bell Canyon for a return...

View attachment 129988


Grabbed a quick pano before heading down...

View attachment 129989

Good to see you back! Fantastic photos as well. I was back in the Salt Lake area over the weekend and conditions were very nice for hiking.

 

[Bob]

Found a pic of Scat's first trip to Yellowstone....... now you know why he is bear obsessed

 

[scatman]

Found a pic of Scat's first trip to Yellowstone....... now you know why he is bear obsessed

View attachment 130026

Careful @Bob, they may put this location into a BMA!

 

[Rockskipper]

That's @Bob and @scatman in middle school after running away to Yellowstone. They still do this every year, but now they dress up like hikers.

Welcome back, @Perry. - how are your kitties?

 

[Bob]

That's @Bob and @scatman in middle school after running away to Yellowstone. They still do this every year, but now they dress up like hikers.

Welcome back, @Perry. - how are your kitties?

How's your galloping around now?

 

[scatman]

Everybody wearing their green today? if not, you can expect a Scatman pinch today! And since I'm still wound up about the Hayden Valley Bear Management Area, it might be a nasty pinch at that.

All the ingredients for the Irish Car Bomb later today. Stay tuned.

 

[Rockskipper]

How's your galloping around now?

Not doing much galloping, but I’m almost able to canter. Not sure about packing in heavy spoons, though.