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- Dec 23, 2013
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This report will be all about the wildflowers, not the one we wanted, but all the others.
Before I start though let's go over the tools of the trade for this hike.
First off, the Canon Rebel T6. I'm not a big red fan, but somehow this camera appealed to me.
Second would be the Canon EF-S 18-135mm zoom lens
Third and fourth we have a Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens and a Kenko Teleplus 1.4X
converter which works with some EF-S lenses.
Fifth we have a MEFOTO tripod.
And last but not least my trusty Canon PowerShot SD700 IS
We started off about 9:30 in the morning. It was supposed to warm up to 82 degrees today in the valley so we wanted to get up to the top before it got too hot. I was surprised that I felt better today than I did on my eight mile walk up City Creek on Sunday.
The reason for the loop hike today was to see if Sego Lilies were blooming on the south side of Van Cott. Unfortunately for us, they were not. We failed in our quest @Rockskipper.
Fortunately though, all the other wild flowers were blooming to make up for it. I thought that training for the century ride for a couple of months would cause me to miss the foothill wildflowers, but I think the relatively cool spring delayed them a bit which was fine with me.
Here are some shots of our hike today.
Getting ready at the trailhead
Yellows salsify
Dalmatian toadflax
Common storksbill
Ladybug on some woad
Dyers woad
Another ladybug - they were pretty common lower down
Northern sweetvetch
Mount Van Cott's western side
Milkvetch
Wooly-pod milkvetch
Evening primrose
Loaded for bear.
Hawksbeard
Arrowleaf balsamroot - its best days were behind it, though some still held out in the shaded areas
Last segment of trail up to the ridge
Little bur-clover
More primrose
Wasatch beardtongue
Sulphur buckwheat
Heading up the ridge
Nice outcrop of rock, with the Avenues Twin Peaks above
Dalmatian toadflax and those pesky Avenues Twin Peaks
Spreading fleabane
More beardtongue
Death camas
Lupine
Lewis flax
Slope full of arrowleaf balsamroot
Groundsel
Hill covered with balsamroot - Black Mountain in the distance
The Dude Benchmark
Gotcha!
Pretty, but I'm not sure what it is.
Red ants
Low cryptantha
Sheila found a new register/log box on the summit
I've got a new trail name for Sheila - Ant Dancer. She got into a mess of red ants and
they were biting her ankles and shins which caused her to kind of hop around for a
bit. I was fairly amused.
Gotcha part two
Just off the summit shot
View of the Wasatch Front from the top of Van Cott
A horned lizard greeted us at the top. Not as nice as the snappers that @TractorDoc sees on his hikes, but until he can send me
one that I can release into the Jordan River, this will have to do.
Mount Wire across Red Butte Canyon
At this point I changed lenses and put on the 55-250mm with the 1.4X extender, and took some shots of familiar local peaks
Lone Peak
Broads Fork Twin Peaks
Mount Raymond
Gobblers Knob
Grandeur Peak (middle ridge)
Mount Wire - somebody is at the top of the beacon
Red Butte Gardens below
Lichens on an outcrop a ways from me.
Zoomed in on some balsamroot
Toadflax
I then switched back to my main lens for the trip.
And of course after switching lenses, this flew by. A pelican from the top of Van Cott!
Heading down into Red Butte Canyon
Lonleaf Phlox
More Dalmatian toadflax
Vetch
Looks like the trail is leading to Mount Olympus and Lone Peak in the distance
Mule-ears
Wasatch beardtongue standing over some wilting balsamroot
Three riders of the apocalypse?
Red Butte
Common yarrow
Vetch
A draw full of arrowleaf balsamroot
Vetch
Not sure what is going on here, but there appears to be an onlooker.
Bastard toadflax
A magpie
@Bob, I'm going to load my pack with eighty pounds and do this slope twice to get
ready for your summer shenanigans.
Looking up at the south side of Mount Van Cott, from the bottom of Red Butte Canyon
Red Butte
I just couldn't get enough of the vetch
Magpie in flight
Dyer's woad heading straight up the draw
Back at the Sube
My lunch when I got home - artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and Kalamata olives.
Before I start though let's go over the tools of the trade for this hike.
First off, the Canon Rebel T6. I'm not a big red fan, but somehow this camera appealed to me.
Second would be the Canon EF-S 18-135mm zoom lens
Third and fourth we have a Canon EF-S 55-250mm lens and a Kenko Teleplus 1.4X
converter which works with some EF-S lenses.
Fifth we have a MEFOTO tripod.
And last but not least my trusty Canon PowerShot SD700 IS
We started off about 9:30 in the morning. It was supposed to warm up to 82 degrees today in the valley so we wanted to get up to the top before it got too hot. I was surprised that I felt better today than I did on my eight mile walk up City Creek on Sunday.
The reason for the loop hike today was to see if Sego Lilies were blooming on the south side of Van Cott. Unfortunately for us, they were not. We failed in our quest @Rockskipper.
Fortunately though, all the other wild flowers were blooming to make up for it. I thought that training for the century ride for a couple of months would cause me to miss the foothill wildflowers, but I think the relatively cool spring delayed them a bit which was fine with me.Here are some shots of our hike today.
Getting ready at the trailhead
Yellows salsify
Dalmatian toadflax
Common storksbill
Ladybug on some woad
Dyers woad
Another ladybug - they were pretty common lower down
Northern sweetvetch
Mount Van Cott's western side
Milkvetch
Wooly-pod milkvetch
Evening primrose
Loaded for bear.
Hawksbeard
Arrowleaf balsamroot - its best days were behind it, though some still held out in the shaded areas
Last segment of trail up to the ridge
Little bur-clover
More primrose
Wasatch beardtongue
Sulphur buckwheat
Heading up the ridge
Nice outcrop of rock, with the Avenues Twin Peaks above
Dalmatian toadflax and those pesky Avenues Twin Peaks
Spreading fleabane
More beardtongue
Death camas
Lupine
Lewis flax
Slope full of arrowleaf balsamroot
Groundsel
Hill covered with balsamroot - Black Mountain in the distance
The Dude Benchmark
Gotcha!
Pretty, but I'm not sure what it is.
Red ants
Low cryptantha
Sheila found a new register/log box on the summit
I've got a new trail name for Sheila - Ant Dancer. She got into a mess of red ants and
they were biting her ankles and shins which caused her to kind of hop around for a
bit. I was fairly amused.
Gotcha part two
Just off the summit shot
View of the Wasatch Front from the top of Van Cott
A horned lizard greeted us at the top. Not as nice as the snappers that @TractorDoc sees on his hikes, but until he can send me
one that I can release into the Jordan River, this will have to do.
Mount Wire across Red Butte Canyon
At this point I changed lenses and put on the 55-250mm with the 1.4X extender, and took some shots of familiar local peaks
Lone Peak
Broads Fork Twin Peaks
Mount Raymond
Gobblers Knob
Grandeur Peak (middle ridge)
Mount Wire - somebody is at the top of the beacon
Red Butte Gardens below
Lichens on an outcrop a ways from me.
Zoomed in on some balsamroot
Toadflax
I then switched back to my main lens for the trip.
And of course after switching lenses, this flew by. A pelican from the top of Van Cott!
Heading down into Red Butte Canyon
Lonleaf Phlox
More Dalmatian toadflax
Vetch
Looks like the trail is leading to Mount Olympus and Lone Peak in the distance
Mule-ears
Wasatch beardtongue standing over some wilting balsamroot
Three riders of the apocalypse?
Red Butte
Common yarrow
Vetch
A draw full of arrowleaf balsamroot
Vetch
Not sure what is going on here, but there appears to be an onlooker.
Bastard toadflax
A magpie
@Bob, I'm going to load my pack with eighty pounds and do this slope twice to get
ready for your summer shenanigans.
Looking up at the south side of Mount Van Cott, from the bottom of Red Butte Canyon
Red Butte
I just couldn't get enough of the vetch
Magpie in flight
Dyer's woad heading straight up the draw
Back at the Sube
My lunch when I got home - artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and Kalamata olives.
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