I climbed/hiked/ran to the summit of South Mountain Peak in Herriman. This is the mountain that burned last September and I was interested to see the changes since the last time I was up there a year ago with Jun. This is a short peak with only 1500 ft of elevation gain, but don't let that fool you. There is no trail and it is straight up.
I parked in a culdesac right at the base of the mountain and just went straight up. The terrain is very rocky with a lot of cacti, probably the most I have ever seen on a mountain in Northen Utah. The evidence of the fire was everywhere. Most of the scrub oak, bushes and trees were burned, and there wasn't a lot of vegetation, although I could see that some grass and plants were starting to grow. It was actually kind of eerie because there wasn't a lot of birds, bugs or wildlife and really nowhere really for anything to take cover. It just seemed quiet, except for the wind that blasted me once I was on the ridge.
The ridge was black from ash, and I tried to avoid it by stepping on rocks and snow and since the grade wasn't as steep I ran most of the way to the top in 38 minutes. I took a different ridge on the way down that is a little steeper but more direct, and I was back to the car in a little over an hour. I'll post up some pics later. This is a fun peak if you only have an hour.
A few pics: On my way up
Some burned trees on the ridge:
There is a radio tower that has fallen near the summit:
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