.jpg)
The Albion Meadows at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon is a gorgeous meadow that absolutely explodes with color in the summer. Aside from the 100;s of species of wildflowers you will see there are amazing mountain peaks surrounding the Albion Basin. We’ve come up here a few times this year and finally managed to hit peak bloom this time! The line of cars waiting to access the Summer Road was a little longer than I would have liked, so we went up on foot. We really like this trail and do it often, and well, love that there are multiple ways to enjoy it. However I do miss the option of taking the shuttle up and doing other trails and coming down the meadows. The shuttle was killed during the pandemic, but I think it is high time to bring it back.
Quick Details:
Length: We did a 3.95 mile balloon, with some exploring and backtracking. It might be closer to 3.75. There are shorter options if you go up the Summer Road ($10 use fee).
Trail Type: Balloon, or out and back.
Difficulty: DR4. There is definitely a climb!
Elevation Gain: about 670 feet.
Restroom: There are port-o-pottys below the gate to the summer road. If those are gone, there are flush toilets at Albion Base, and pit toilets up at the Cecret Lake, and Catherine Pass Trailheads.
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:
To Get Here:
Head to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Park below the Summer Road Gate and proceed up the summer road on foot.
The Trail:
The line leading to the Summer Road.
Looking up into the Albion Basin.
Fireweed.
The gate to the Summer Road.
More fireweed.
The Summer Road.
Lots of lupine.
View down canyon.
Lupines, geranium, and paintbrush.
Monkshood.
The Summer Road again.
Paintbrush.
Some yellow columbines.
The road again.
At about .45 miles the trail splits off from the road to the right. This is at the first hairpin turn.
It is signed.
I love all the variations of paintbrush.
Lots of paintbrush in this little field.
It sure is pretty up here.
Corn lily in bloom.
A bunch of them.
Before long the trail connects to the main Albion Meadows Trail that starts at the Albion Base. You want to hang left and keep going uphill.
Interesting tree deformity.
Very rocky trail.
Some arnica.
Some larkspur.
Trail split. I have found that I much prefer to take the right fork, or southern fork up. I mean, you gain the same amount of elevation but it is just a bit easier.
Greeley Hill.
There are a couple of trail splits here, just be sure to chose the one that keeps going uphill and stays on this side of the creek, at least until you hit Alf’s.
Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.
Lots of arnica.
Daisy-like flower. I really struggle with many petaled flowers so I just refer to all of them as daisy-like.
Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak again. I really like these peaks and will probably share too many photos of them.
Lots of lupine.
The peaks again.
Geraniums.
Paintbrush.
The peaks.
With some arnica.
Some kind of mint. I overheard another hiker call it coyote mint, but that does not look right with my apps.
Fireweed with the view down.
With the peaks.
Larkspur.
Fireweed and mint.
The peaks and a daisy-like flower.
Wildflower covered hills.
So many flowers!
Lots of fireweeds in this one.
Some arnica and mint with the peaks.
The mint has neat flowers.
The peaks again.
Greeley Hill.
Lots of arnica.
Paintbrush.
More daisy-like flowers.
More paintbrush.
Another yellow columbine.
View down.
The peaks again.
Devils Castle.
Catherine Pass.
The Catherine Pass Trailhead.
A potgut prairie-dogging.
Devils Castle again.
Sugarloaf Peak.
Lupine and paintbrush.
Alf’s.
You can do a shorter loop by continuing up the service road and then taking the signed turn off to the left. For the longer loop we did today you will hang a right after Alf’s.
The peaks again.
Big patch of snow still hanging on.
Another big patch of corn lilies.
Flower covered boulder.
Entering a nice forested section.
The creek.
More columbines.
Little waterfall.
Swampy area with a boardwalk.
White bog orchids and a few elephant heads.
Elephant heads.
Landis had been sending “we’re gonna see a moose today” vibes all day. And well…
It worked! Our first moose of the year!
He appears to be missing an antler. I read that they shed their antlers in winter, so this is too early for that, sad.
We both thought he seemed like a juvenile still.
I love a good moose sighting.
Such a handsome fella.
Here’s a quick video.
One last shot before we move on.
We took a quick detour along what I call the scenic route.
Monkshood.
Little spring.
With Sugarloaf Peak.
Split rock.
Paintbrush.
Penstemon.
Lupine.
A bunch of elephant heads.
No idea what this is, but it’s cute.
White bog orchids.
Elephant head.
Columbines.
The creek.
Tiny waterfall.
You have two options for longer loops if you like. You can continue up to the Cecret Lake trail, and head back down that. Or, you can add the Devils Castle Loop for a much longer loop. The latter will add about 2 miles or so. Or, heck you can go up to Cecret Lake if you want, with an additional 1.5ish miles out and back. Man, I wish they would restore the shuttle service.
The creek again.
Super pretty up here.
Corn lily.
Monkshood.
A closer look at a corn lily.
Monkshood.
The peaks.
Now we are back to the big loop.
More pretty forest.
Just past the restrooms at the Cecret Lake Trailhead, between the 2 parking lots is the Cecret Lake Connector Trail. This is what will bring you back to the meadows.
Larkspur.
Elkweed and paintbrush.
Little bridge.
Little stream under it.
Lots of elkweed.
Lots of lupine.
Catherine Pass.
More elkweed.
I don’t know if there is a specific term for these but there are 4 little rocky elements along this trail that appear to be designed to allow water to flow through.
Paintbrush.
Then you will walk down the service road for Alf’s for a little bit.
I think this is sulphur flower.
Looking back at Devils Castle.
More sulphur flower.
Sugarloaf Peak.
Paintbrush.
The peaks.
Devils Castle.
Sugarloaf Peak.
The signed turn off into the Albion Meadows.
This is the same turn off you would use if doing the shorter loop I mentioned near Alf’s.
It is a little more up heading towards the Catherine Pass Trailhead, but it’s not too bad.
Corn lilies.
Geraniums.
Daisy-like flowers.
Looking down at Alf’s.
Lupine.
Larkspur.
A little closer.
Yay! A hummingbird moth.
Nearing the Catherine Pass trailhead.
The peaks again.
Devils Castle.
Sugarloaf Peak.
A hummingbird amongst the larkspur.
Another one. There are lots of hummingbirds in the meadow, they are super happy here.
A rare moment of one sitting still.
More larkspur.
With the peaks.
The Catherine Pass Trailhead.
Now we will continue down the newish Albion Meadows Trail.
The peaks again.
Heading down into the meadows.
Lots of wildflowers.
Big ass bumblebee.
Paintbrush.
Lots of wildflowers.
Lupine seed pods.
Arnica.
More larkspur.
Lots more.
There are several little pull outs to take photos and look like you are surrounded by wildflowers without trampling wildflowers. So, just a friendly reminder to use these and don’t trample flowers!
Larkspur and Devils Castle.
Lots of larkspur.
Another hummingbird.
Even with the absolute abundance of wildflowers they still fight over resources, just like they do at my feeder.
Devils Castle.
Larkspur and peaks.
Another photo pull out.
I can’t believe I caught a hummingbird just chilling twice in one day. Fun.
Loads of larkspur.
Nice mix of paintbrush.
More paintbrush.
Another big ass bumblebee.
Continuing down.
Larkspur.
Big patch of paintbrush.
Nice mix of color.
Fireweed and larkspur.
The peaks.
With larkspur.
Fireweed.
Closer.
Daisy-like flower.
Wildflower filled hills.
Larkspur.
Continuing down. Eventually we were in the shadow of Greeley Hill.
Which actually makes for better wildflower shots.
The peaks are still lit up though.
Nice mix of color.
Wow! It is so pretty up here.
Larkspur and mint.
Nice mix.
Flowers and peaks.
Pretty hillside.
Flowers with Devils Castle.
Flowers and peaks.
Lots of flowers.
Fireweed.
Nice mix.
Fireweed, other flowers, and peaks.
Another nice mix, and a glimpse of the crowds up here.
Back down to the original, main trail.
Pretty little gully.
Greeley Hill.
Pretty hillsides.
Daisy-like flowers.
The hillside again.
Nice little patch of different paintbrush.
More daisy-like flowers.
Nice mix.
Paintbrush and corn lilies.
Some purple paintbrush.
And some red.
Another nice mix.
More paintbrush.
More nice mixes.
The main trail is nice and wide, but super rocky in places.
Lots of arnica.
Some white skyrockets.
The turnoff back to the Summer Road is to the right. Left will take you down to the Albion Base.
Found some forget me nots holding out.
Corn lily.
Back to the Summer Road.
More paintbrush variety.
Heading down the Summer Road.
I found a white paintbrush! Yay!
Fireweed.
Some bright red paintbrush.
The line to go up the Summer Road is a bit shorter, but I am still surprised there is a line with this little daylight left.
View down canyon.
Last light on the peaks.
Last light on the Albion Basin.
Fireweeds.
Arnica.
This little ephemeral waterfall is quite diminished with much less snow above it (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).
View down the U shaped canyon (PSP).
I was absolutely thrilled to see the meadows exploding with color today! This was a great loop to see all the beauty of the Albion Basin. It was a little busier today, but that is to be expected during the peak wildflower bloom. I saw 6 out 7 of my favorite flowers today too, only missing a shooting star, plus, tons and tons more. Not to mention a moose sighting! 10 out of 10 squirrels today.
As for difficulty, it’s a bit of a climb, and some of the trail is quite rocky, plus there are long parts with no shade. DR4.
Dogs are not allowed in Little Cottonwood Canyon due to watershed restrictions. So be sure to leave Fido at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment