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

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Headed in on the Tomahawk Drive Trailhead

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Wand Mullein

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Leaving the Avenues Twin Peaks behind

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Sego Lily

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Paintbrush

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Skyrocket

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American Sweet Vetch

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Bumblebee on thistle

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The Dude Benchmark, framed by mountain mahogany and a spruce

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A lone penstemon

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Almost to the top of the ridge

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

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Benchmark on the ridge

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BCP greetings @Rockskipper from Black Mountain Ridge

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

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Burro Peak and Grandview Peak

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

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Thistle

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One of the 15

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A normal lizard - one of 18

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Golden Rod

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

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Approaching the Avenues Twin Peaks on my way down

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View of Back Mountain from the northern twin

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Yellow Star Thistle

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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.

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

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Of course we had to order the handle bar pretzel

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

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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.
 
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! :moses:
 
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. :thumbsup:

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

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Sheila, making her way up the Van Cott west ridge

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Lupine

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Katie, taking a drink on another warm day.

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Sheila arrives at the summit

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Hazy Black Mountain where I hiked yesterday

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

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Bikini Pose on Van Cott @Rockskipper

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

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Saw two of these guys today, but no regular lizards

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Bumblebee

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Buckwheat

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Red Butte

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A moth

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A blue lazuli bunting

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A very small preying mantis on a parking space line

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Another shot of Red Butte

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Golden foothills of Van Cott
 
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