The Van Cott Loop - February 13, 2022

[scatman]

Back to the old Van Cott Loop this morning. The weather here is just perfect for hiking, being sunny, and reaching a high of 50 degrees at the summit of Van Cott.

Van Cott from the west

Giving the knees a rest

Spring Parsley already.

Common Storksbill is blooming all over Van Cott now, after we only saw two blooming on our way up the Avenues Twin Peaks last
wee.

A caterpillar on the trail

Not much snow left in the foothills

Lichens

Black Mountain Ridge

A young sage

Summit shot

Red Butte Canyon

Mount Wire and ridge

Gnats were all over the summit, and me, as we broke to have a snack. We also saw a fly, and four butterflies at the top.

Time to get the hell out of Dodge!

Sheila, checking out the Wasatch

More storksbill

Red Butte

A butterfly on our way down

Another shot of Red Butte as we loop back around to the Subaru.


The End.

 

[regehr]

this is great scat, we're social distancing by about one entire ridge every weekend -- I went to Van Cott yesterday and then Big Beacon today. Big Beacon was a poor choice since there was a lot of mud above 6000'. I walked one of the steep ribs to the south of George's Hollow thinking it would be pretty dry, but no.

 

[regehr]

yesterday there were some folks slacklining between a couple of crags near Cephalopod Gulch at the foot of Van Cott, and today someone paraglided off the Big Beacon summit -- definitely feeling like spring this weekend

 

[Janice]

Amazing to have so much springtime already (flowers, insects). Enjoy!

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Thanks Scat, always love your trip reports. And flowers blooming already... Wow! But gosh, this is only mid February for it to be sooooo barren of snow already. If it continues this way then it will be another hot, dry, and smoky summer. The west needs some precipitation badly.

 

[scatman]

yesterday there were some folks slacklining between a couple of crags near Cephalopod Gulch at the foot of Van Cott, and today someone paraglided off the Big Beacon summit -- definitely feeling like spring this weekend

This guy was climbing the rock at the mouth of Battle Gulch when we were returning to our car.

I might be doing Wire in two weeks.

 

[scatman]

Thanks Scat, always love your trip reports. And flowers blooming already... Wow! But gosh, this is only mid February for it to be sooooo barren of snow already. If it continues this way then it will be another hot, dry, and smoky summer. The west needs some precipitation badly.

Yes, everything is about one month too early I'm afraid. It is possible that March will be a wet, snowy month though. It has happened before. If it isn't then we could be in trouble this coming summer.

 

[Titans]

Nice @scatman ! Yah, the gnats are out already further south, uh…. But also plenty of Swallowtails etc. Saw blooming spurge yesterday, thought of you.

 

[The Trout Whisperer]

Y’all need a whole lotta precip…either rain or snow…..

 

[scatman]

Y’all need a whole lotta precip…either rain or snow…..

We got 1.5 inches of snow at my house yesterday. They were forecasting 4-6 inches in the mountains, so that will help out. The problem is once a storm moves through this time of year, it is right back into the forties. There is another storm heading in Sunday evening through Monday it looks like.

More facts that only interest me, and perhaps @WasatchWill :

1. Average daily temperature is now 44 degrees here in SLC - will hit 45 on Saturday - will be 49 by the 1st of March.
2. We've gained 1 hour, 29 minutes and 30 seconds of daylight since December 21st - gaining an additional 2 minutes and 32 seconds today.