Random Rambler: Albion Meadows

The Albion Meadows are one of the best local spots to enjoy wildflowers near Salt Lake City. It is a beautiful valley surrounded by amazing peaks. There are multiple options to access and enjoy the meadows so you can do it several times a year and feel like it is something new each time. We actually ended up using quite a few trails making a nice balloon today. In doing so we ended up seeing most of our favorite wildflowers, so it was a good day. We tend to do some iteration of this trail every year just to enjoy the flowers.

Quick warning, this post is mostly all about the flowers! So there are a ton of flower pictures.

Quick Details:

Length: The route we did was about 3 miles.
Trail Type: Balloon, other options.
Difficulty: DR4. Oh boy was this a bit of a climb.
Elevation Gain: About 580 feet.
Restroom: There are porta-pottys by the fee station, vault toilets at the Catherine Pass Trailhead, and flush toilets at the Albion Base (just a slight detour).
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info: You can make it a little bit shorter by doing the Albion Meadow Trail from the Catherine Pass Trailhead, but that will require paying the fee to use the Summer Road.

To Get Here:

Drive to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Just before the fee station park. There is no fee to walk the road. You can also go down to the Albion Base and hike up, it is not much longer from there.

I still want to figure out if there is a way to get to this waterfall (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)). It is just a bit up canyon from Lisa Falls.

The line for the Summer Road was actually not as long as I thought it would be today, but we decided that we would hoof it today. I might regret that later as it does get busier as the season goes on, but … meh. We’ve got legs.

The Trail:

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

Fireweed. Yay! I love me some fireweed.

Grizzly Gulch.

Onto the Summer Road!

Super pretty up here.

So … the Summer Road is like... kind of paved? But not paved? It is a little bit weird.

Continuing up the road.

Yellow columbines.

More.

Lupine.

White bog orchids.

Little stream along the side of the road.

Bluebells.

Continuing up the road.

Lupine.

Purple monkey flowers.

Closer.

More yellow columbines.

One was close enough to the road to get closer pictures.

I love all columbines, but I only find the yellow ones in a few places, and for very briefly so they are extra special to me.

Shooting stars! Another favorite.

White bog orchid and yellow columbines.

Monkshood.

Lupine and paintbrush.

Continuing up.

White bog orchid.

Elephant head. From my experience when you see these you will likely see white bog orchids, and vice versa.

Some snow hanging on on Greeley Hill.

Hill full of bluebells.

At about a half mile up you will come to this gate. This is where you want to go. It is just before the first hairpin turn.

There is a sign too.

Paintbrush.

Lupine.

Lots of paintbrush.

Continuing along with Germania Pass above.

Looking up to the crag that the Catherine Pass Trailhead is on. Also, the Sunnyside Lift.

Looking down.

Random deer friend.

Eventually the trail joins the main Albion Meadows Trail. You want to hang left and keep heading uphill.

Daisy like flower, or some sort of aster.

Paintbrush.

Columbines.

Arnica.

The next trail split. You can go either way, but I prefer to go right towards the Homerun Trail. It is a little easier on the knees.

Arnica.

Germania Pass between Sugarloaf Peak and Greeley Hill.

Down.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak as we make our way up the Homerun Trail.

Closer.

Boulders and flowers.

Arnica.

Penstemon.

Skyrocket.

Another.

The peaks again.

Lupine.

Lupine and paintbrush.

The peaks.

The meadows.

Geraniums.

Meadows.

Forget me nots.

Greeley Hill.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

Geraniums.

Down canyon.

Snow machine.

Different shades of paintbrush.

Some fireweeds that haven’t quite bloomed yet.

Corn lilies, paintbrush, and lupine. Plus some arnica in the background.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

With some arnica.

Close to one.

Hill full of them.

Lupine.

Colorful mix.

Arnica and paintbrush.

Paintbrush.

Mint and a bumblebee.

Lots of arnica.

Hillside.

Peaks.

Arnica.

Greeley Hill.

It’s crazy that this little cascade was roaring last week and it is barely a trickle or dry even today.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

Arnica.

Ladybug friend.

Mine tailings.

Lupine.

Little Cottonwood Creek has a kind of deep bed through here.

Starting to hit some forest.

Columbines.

More.

Buttercups I believe.

Lots of columbines.

Monkshood.

Down canyon again.

Columbine.

Peaks.

The creek again.

Peaks and forest.

Jacobs ladder.

You can see the old trail revegetating nicely. Also, the new route down the Albion Meadows Trail is just above it. You can use that for a shorter loop option.

Devils Castle.

Alfs.

They have removed the old Supreme Lift and are rebuilding it to make it straighter. I guess there was a bend that was causing it to wear down faster. Anyway, due to that the area above Alfs is closed. But, there is a detour along the service road to the left. That is pretty much what I planned to do today anyway so no issue.

I get they need room to move the heavy equipment around, but man they sure put the fence out into the trail quite far, leaving a pretty narrow path for us.

Old microwave tower above.

Normally there is an option to do a slightly longer loop up through here to the Cecret Lake Trailhead and back down the Catherine’s to Cecret Connector, but due to the lift reconstruction the area is closed all summer long. When it does reopen, that loop will add about 6/10th of a mile. Adding Cecret Lake will be an additional 1.5 miles on top.

There is a detour up the service road.

Heading up the service road.

A big patch of snow.

Another old trail that has been rerouted is growing in nicely.

The top of the Sunnyside Lift.

The Catherine Pass Trailhead that we are heading towards.

Catherine Pass.

Continuing up the service road.

The meadow.

And of course the Utah State Flower; the construction cone.

Asters of some sort.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

The service road and Catherine Pass.

The larkspurs are coming in!

Corn lilies and Western cone flowers.

Keep your eyes open for the trail split to the left, with the guide rope. This will take us up to the Catherine Pass Trailhead.

The trail.

Continuing up.

Lupine.

With a bumblebee friend.

Forget me nots.

Germania Pass and I think I can see Mount Baldy peeking up behind it.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

Devils Castle (10,920 ft.), Sugar Loaf Peak (11,051 ft.), Germania Pass, Mount Baldy (11,068 ft.), Greeley Hill.

Larkspur.

Lupine.

Larkspur. I love the purple ones like this.

Western coneflower. This is about as much as they bloom.

Larkspur.

Continuing up.

Lupine.

More larkspur.

Closer.

More geraniums.

Nearing the top.

The revegetation efforts on this hill appear to be coming in nicely.

The top, well almost. No need to go the 20 feet or so to the actual top for what we were doing (but there is a restroom up there if you need it). So, left down the Albion Meadow Trail. We did just do that last week, but hey it will complete our loop. I love all of the different options there are to enjoy the meadows.

Direction sign.

Heading down.

Looking for that perfect photo?

1: Have people being photographed walk within the ropes and step on the green mats.
2: Have the photographer stay on the main trail and frame up the shot to get that "immersed in the wildflowers" image.
3: Take your picture for a beautiful photo while preserving this magnificent landscape.

Always stay on the designated trails.

I would like to add, do it quickly. Don't be that jerk that is monopolizing a good spot for a long time. But also, do use the pullouts! We had to stop and wait while large families blocked the entire trail for a photo several times today! Now, I am a patient man, but I will only give you about 20 seconds to snap that photo before I just continue along the public trail.

Arnica.

Devils Castle and Sugarloaf Peak.

Mint of some sort.

Lots of arnica.

One of the photo pullouts.

View from it.

Lots of arnica.

Closer.

Another pullout.

The peaks.

With some larkspur.

More mint.

Arnica covered hill.

More arnica.

Peaks.

Western coneflower.

Nice mix.

Lupine and orange and red paintbrush.

Paintbrush.

Western coneflower.

Paintbrush.

Nice mixes of color.

Paintbrush.

The peaks.

Jacobs ladder.

Continuing down.

I think that might used to have been a photo pullout but they are letting it grow back this year. Just a quick reminder, if the rope is not parted, if there are not green mats, and there isn’t a little camera symbol sign, it is not, or it is no longer a designated pullout. So please respect what the rangers are doing and do not use it. Allow the plants to come back.

Columbines and lupine.

Nice mix.

Geraniums.

Lots of arnica.

Larkspur.

Jacobs ladder.

Paintbrush.

Some more mint.

Little moth.

With the peaks.

Mint and bumblebee.

Another possible old pullout that is being allowed to regrow.

Flowers and peaks.

Paintbrush.

Arnica.

With peaks.

Nice mix.

Lots of arnica.

Arnica and peaks.

The peaks as the sun goes behind Mount Baldy and Greeley Hill plunging us into shadow.

Before long we hit the Upper Albion Meadows Trail. (not to be confused with the Albion Meadow Trail we just came down haha). Right will get us back to where we need to be.

Hillside below.

Arnica and peaks. Despite the hugely different light levels, I like the way this came out.

More arnica.

Penstemon.

Arnica and paintbrush.

Somewhere around here Landis asked me if there was any paintbrush that is yellow. I said yeah there is, but I don’t think we have ever seen it. I said we have seen white paintbrush before, but that was only once.

Geraniums.

Lupine.

Nice mix.

Lots of arnica.

Large patches of flowers on Greeley Hill above.

Paintbrush and lupine.

Arnica.

Corn lilies.

The hill above.

Continuing down.

Lupine.

Mixed flowers.

Grizzly Gulch.

One final meadows shot.

Microwave tower.

Where the split for the Home Run Trail connects to the Albion Meadows Trail.

Quickly followed by the next main split. Left will take you down to the Albion Base. Forward back to the Summer Road. They will both get us back to where we parked, but left will be a little longer and a little more work so forward we go.

Heading across the clearing to the road.

Downhill.

Uphill.

Buttercup.

Back down to the Summer Road.

Itty bitty little waterfall.

Well hot damn. We did find some yellow paintbrush today. I am not sure if we stumbled upon a more rare species around here, or a random mutation but, well here we are. I am starting to suspect Landis might be a witch. I swear it has happened quite a few times that he asks about something and then we see it.

Closer.

Okay, these are amazing! Like I said, we do not see yellow paintbrush ever! But I am open to the idea that perhaps we just don't notice them amongst all of the other yellow flowers.

Super neat.

Paintbrush.

Yellow friends again.

The creek again.

Heading down the Summer Road.

The paved but not paved road again.

White bog orchids.

Closer.

Again.

Elephant heads that are not quite mature.

White bog orchid.

Lupine.

The Summer Road again.

Yellow columbines.

Closer.

Another.

Shooting stars.

White bog orchid.

Yellow columbine.

Lots of them and some paintbrush.

The Summer Road again.

White bog orchids.

Lupine and yellow columbines.

Closer to the columbines.

The road again.

Flowers growing on a steep hill above.

White bog orchid.

View down canyon.

Yellow columbines. This is the most I have ever seen in one area.

Down canyon again.

White bog orchids and elephant heads.

White bog orchid.

Lupine.

Asters of some sort.

Fireweeds.

Nearing the bottom of the Summer Road.

View down canyon.

Grizzly Gulch again.

Big patch of fireweeds.

Down canyon again.

The fee booth. The attendant came out and asked if we saw any moose we said no. She then informed us she watched 5 of them walk up the hill in the last hour. sumbitch!

Driving down the canyon (PSP).

The single lane construction light again (PSP). The wait wasn’t too bad.

I love this view down the U shaped canyon (PSP). I know, I take a picture every single time haha.

I feel like the roadside sunflowers are making another early appearance this year (PSP). I generally associate them with the end of summer.

Saw some deer in Dimple Dell (PSP).

Little bit of a sunset (PSP).

Well that was fun. I just love the huge abundance of wildflowers of all shapes and sizes. We saw almost all of our favorite flowers, and saw a couple special ones as well. It was a little busy, and there were a couple rude groups doing family photos but it wasn’t too bad considering. I also just love all of the various ways you can enjoy the area. 9 out of 10 squirrels today. Losing 1 due to inconsiderate folk.