Album The members of backcountrypost.com

[Bob]

Wow........ havent heard that song for many years ......!!

 

[scatman]

Cicadas are so fun! Glad you got to enjoy them.

When I was probably nine or ten years old and lived in Asheville, NC, we had the 17 year cicadas emerge. They were black with red eyes and larger than the ones just off the Avenues Twin Peaks. If I remember correctly, there were a few white ones too that must have been albinos. Anyway, there were thousands of them, all over everyone's' yards, sidewalks and trees. You literally could not avoid them when walking around outside.

 

[scatman]

I headed up to Black Mountain today. It was a hot hike, but one that I could finish (about 10 miles) before my PT appointment in the afternoon.


Headed in on the Tomahawk Drive Trailhead


Wand Mullein


Leaving the Avenues Twin Peaks behind


Sego Lily


Paintbrush


Skyrocket


American Sweet Vetch


Bumblebee on thistle


The Dude Benchmark, framed by mountain mahogany and a spruce


A lone penstemon


Almost to the top of the ridge


Horned Lizard. The final count was 18 lizards and 15 horned lizards


Benchmark on the ridge


BCP greetings @Rockskipper from Black Mountain Ridge


Some Colby-Jack for a late breakfast along with some almonds


Burro Peak and Grandview Peak


Mount Ogden in the far distance. You could see the backside of Mount Ogden from Mount Logan last week


Thistle


One of the 15


A normal lizard - one of 18


Golden Rod


Does anybody know what this Prehistoric looking creature is? Fly is my guess, but what kind?


Approaching the Avenues Twin Peaks on my way down


View of Back Mountain from the northern twin


Yellow Star Thistle


The Jeep! 94 degrees when I returned to the trailhead. My Jeep has no AC, so it was a hot ride home. I was feeling the heat the
last couple of miles.



It is my wife's birthday today and she chose to go to the Handle Bar. We had never been here before.


Of course we had to order the handle bar pretzel


I got the street tacos with grilled chicken and some jalapeños poppers wrapped in bacon. Both dishes were
excellent.


And a Bombastic Shiver Coffee Stout to wash it all down.

I'm going to try and do the Van Cott Loop tomorrow before going to give blood. It's not a difficult hike, but it will be my first back to back hikes on consecutive days since my knee surgery.

 

[Rockskipper]

BCP greetings @Rockskipper from Black Mountain Ridge

Would be cool to see you do the BCP salute on top of Fremont Peak for old times' sake.

 

[Rockskipper]

It was a hot hike, but one that I could finish (about 10 miles) before my PT appointment in the afternoon.

Did your PT ask why you had dirt and seeds and bits of sticks and Chocolonely hanging off your legs?

 

[scatman]

Would be cool to see you do the BCP salute on top of Fremont Peak for old times' sake.

Now who is being nostalgic? Do you think my knee could handle Fremont?

 

[scatman]

Did your PT ask why you had dirt and seeds and bits of sticks and Chocolonely hanging off your legs?

I had time to get home and shower before heading to PT. He ended up doing a deep fascia message, and then a scrape, and then another message. He also gave me some toe strengthening exercises to do on a daily basis along with all the other ones he's given me in the past. I swear I spend most of my day just doing preventative exercises to keep me going!

 

[scatman]

I was able to complete the Van Cott Loop this morning. It's only 4.2 miles in length, but it was nice to be able to hike on consecutive days with some elevation gain to each hike.

A cold front moved through last night which dropped the high for today to 89 degrees. It felt a lot more reasonable than the 97 yesterday.

After the hike, we all went and donated blood. I got to talk rattlesnakes with the phlebotomist.


Smoke moved into the Salt Lake Valley from a fire near the Utah/Nevada border


Sheila, making her way up the Van Cott west ridge


Lupine


Katie, taking a drink on another warm day.


Sheila arrives at the summit


Hazy Black Mountain where I hiked yesterday







There were a bunch of Sego Lilies just off the Van Cott summit


Bikini Pose on Van Cott @Rockskipper


Can't even see the Oquirrh Range on the west side of the valley


Saw two of these guys today, but no regular lizards


Bumblebee


Buckwheat


One of those prehistoric flies got my daughter.


Red Butte


A moth


A blue lazuli bunting


A very small preying mantis on a parking space line


Another shot of Red Butte


Golden foothills of Van Cott

 

[scatman]

Hey, Mount Van Cott is literally on fire this evening.

Van Cott Wildfire

 

[Bob]

Hey, Mount Van Cott is literally on fire this evening.

Van Cott Wildfire

I was going to say in that pic....it looks ready to burn.

 

[scatman]

I was going to say in that pic....it looks ready to burn.

Yeah, the entire mountain is really dry. I guess that goes for the rest of the foothills too.

A couple of shots taken from my house.




And from the Trib.

 

[Rockskipper]

Bikini Pose on Van Cott @Rockskipper

Well, you need to tone down those smokin' hot bikini poses (sorry, couldn't resist).

Our air quality was moderate today here in W. Colorado and they're calling for smoke from the fires in Utah to move in tomorrow. I always check in with these guys: https://colosmokeoutlook.blogspot.com

Looks like this will add to it. I looked to the west this evening and could see a big flat smoke cloud covering the horizon. Hope they get the one by you out ASAP. Guess it's time to order that air filter.

ETA: Watch Duty has more photos and is calling it the Bonneville Fire.

 

[Rockskipper]

Let us know how things are going when you have a chance, Scatty. Looks like the pre-evacuation isn't all that far from your neighborhood, relatively speaking.

 

[scatman]

Well, you need to tone down those smokin' hot bikini poses (sorry, couldn't resist).

Our air quality was moderate today here in W. Colorado and they're calling for smoke from the fires in Utah to move in tomorrow. I always check in with these guys: https://colosmokeoutlook.blogspot.com

Looks like this will add to it. I looked to the west this evening and could see a big flat smoke cloud covering the horizon. Hope they get the one by you out ASAP. Guess it's time to order that air filter.

ETA: Watch Duty has more photos and is calling it the Bonneville Fire.

Nice blog Skipper.

 

[scatman]

Let us know how things are going when you have a chance, Scatty. Looks like the pre-evacuation isn't all that far from your neighborhood, relatively speaking.

Here are a few shots that I took last night a little after 10:00 pm from my house. The highest ridge is actually the Mount Wire ridgline which isn't affected so far. The ridges below the Mount Wire ridgeline are Van Cott ridges.





And a couple a little later on:



This morning I got up to water about 5:00 am and the fire had moved up the Van Cott ridge lines. The fire was no longer in view from my house as it had moved uphill and was being blocked from my view by trees, but it was still putting off a lot of smoke. It sounds like the U of U hospital is safe for now as the fire is moving the opposite direction.

I was also mid-valley today and and looking back at Van Cott it looked like the fire may have reached the summit or close to it. It was also burning on the north slope of Van Cott heading up Dry Canyon. It also appeared to have some major burning off the south slope down into Red Butte Canyon.

As of now, they aren't allowing anybody into the area, but I'm thinking about heading up early Saturday morning to see what the damage is. Also, I'm supposed to see Ziggy Marley at Red Butte on Tuesday night and I am not sure how that concert will be affected. Wait and see I guess.

 

[Rockskipper]

That must be a bit unsettling to see from your house. It sure looks impressive on Watch Duty.

We had a small fire here a couple of weeks ago along I70 that shut the freeway down and basically gridlocked the town for about 6 hours. I'm only a couple of blocks from very dry wildlands, so I have a go bag ready, but the problem with Glenwood Springs is there's only one real way in and out.

 

[scatman]

That must be a bit unsettling to see from your house. It sure looks impressive on Watch Duty.

We had a small fire here a couple of weeks ago along I70 that shut the freeway down and basically gridlocked the town for about 6 hours. I'm only a couple of blocks from very dry wildlands, so I have a go bag ready, but the problem with Glenwood Springs is there's only one real way in and out.

I had a feeling after our warm winter that fire season was going to be bad.

As of my last update, the Bonneville fire is 0% contained and folks living above 11th have been told to prepare for possible evacuation.

 

[Bob]

Its oak/maple brush and grass ....... it will be green next spring.

 

[scatman]

Okay, I finished my neighborhood walk this evening and heading east up 9th Avenue you get a straight shot view of Van Cott. It appears to me that the summit was spared, but the high points along the ridgeline that runs to the northeast from Van Cott were burned. It looks like the fire on those high points came from the Red Butte Canyon side of things. Also, it appeared to me that they were very close to getting the Dry Canyon side of the fire under control.

 

[Janice]

So sorry you have to deal with this. My son is somewhat nearby (2nd & R) and hurt himself mountain biking yesterday afternoon so he's not as mobile as I'd like. Mom's hoping everything will be ok... for him and all of you... Meanwhile it's raining right now in Michigan...