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The Lower Albion Meadows Trail is a lovely short trail at Alta. It features a pretty mixed forest, views, and wildflowers. Its a great trail to enjoy some wildflowers without a whole lot of effort. It is an easy half mile trail that will take you between the Wildcat Base and the Albion Base.
We had a pretty busy weekend, so I wanted something that was a little easier while still getting up and out of the extreme heat. So this was perfect.
I thought we had done this trail before, but uh, not quite.
Quick Details:
Length: About a mile out and back.
Trail Type: Out and back, loop and connector options.
Difficulty: DR3. Super easy peasy.
Elevation Gain: About 100 feet.
Restroom: We couldn’t find the ones at the Wildcat base (other than porta potties), but there are definitely flush toilets at the Albion Base.
Dogs? No. Little Cottonwood Canyon is watershed.
Other Info:
To Get Here:
Drive to the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Take the first Alta exit for the Wildcat Base. Park at the southeast corner of the parking lot.
Little Cottonwood Canyon is a perfect glacier carved U-shaped canyon (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)).
Into the canyon (PSP).
I am just baffled by the tire tracks (PSP). Like, why the heck are people just wildly veering across the other lane?
Waterfall (PSP).
Snowbird’s Tram (PSP).
Hidden Peak (PSP).
Mount Baldy (PSP).
The Welcome sign (PSP).
Giant chainsaw (PSP).
The Wildcat Base (PSP). This is where we are going to go, but we decided to see what the line for the Summer Road was like at the moment.
The Albion Base (PSP). And the long line of cars waiting to head up the Summer Road. Yeah, nope. Back to our original plan.
Technically you can pick up the trail from here as well, but I wanted to do it from the bottom today because the top seems a little wonky so I wanted to confirm where I thought it was. So, back to the Wildcat Base.
View down.
The Trail:
Trail map.
So, the last time we “did” this trail in 2019 we did the old dirt road for the Transfer Tow and thought that was the trail. I’m not sure if it moved or if I am just a dumbass LOL. The map has noticeably improved since then though. Playing with Google Earth it does look like it did not exist before 2018 though.
Anyway, you want to head up the trail to the right of the sign.
Past Skier Services.
Collins Gulch.
Hummingbird.
A bunch of them above.
Just above the Skier Services building you will find this trail split. You want to go left towards the Albion Meadows.
The trail.
Collins Gulch above.
So far it is a lovely trail.
Geranium.
Lots of fireweeds.
Closer.
This is a much prettier trail than the Transfer Tow road.
Little side stream.
With a large patch of fireweeds on either side.
The hill above. Su think it is Greeley Hill, but I am not 100% sure.
Fireweed.
Another.
Grass seeding.
Western coneflower.
The Transfer Tow below, as well as the Alta Town Park where some people are playing volleyball.
Forest.
The first of a few interpretive signs. This one about the wildflowers you can expect to see up here. We saw most of them today!
"An ecological treasure
Alta is a refuge for specialized plant species.
These high mountain meadows host an incredible diversity of plant species adapted to an alpine environment. During midsummer, fields of wildflowers greet visitors on the Albion Meadows Trail. How many different species can you find?"
"Wild Yet Fragile
Wildflowers and native vegetation are crucial to the continued health of the mountain ecosystem for pollinators, birds, insects, and small animals.
Yet trampling and flower-picking by an ever-increasing number of visitors are threatening this vital resource. Walking off-trail in order to take a photograph, or picking flowers to bring home as a souvenir, can uproot and kill native plants, reducing the vitality of next summer's bloom and leading to erosion.
Help us protect the health and beauty of Alta's environment by staying on official trails and leaving the flowers for everyone to enjoy."
"Indian paintbrush - Town of Alta, Little sunflower - Town of Alta, Green gentian - Shutterstock, Colorado columbine - Town of Alta, Silvery lupine - Town of Alta, Western coneflower - Town of Alta, Fireweed - Town of Alta, Western Larkspur - Andrey Zharkikh / Flickr - False forget-me-not - Shutterstock, Sticky geranium - town of Alta"
I wonder how the Town of Alta couldn't get images of some of these very common flowers up here to use for this.
The hill above us.
Fireweed.
The beautiful trail again.
Paintbrush and fireweed.
Lupine that is starting to seed.
Paintbrush.
These are cute. I don’t know whet they are, but they are cute.
Lupine.
Paintbrush.
Fireweed.
Lovely mix.
Fireweeds.
Mine tailings.
Lots of paintbrush.
The view up.
Fireweed and the Hellgate Cliffs.
Alta Town Park below.
More fireweeds.
Continuing along.
Wildflower covered hill.
The hill above.
White paintbrush! Yay, we very rarely see paintbrush that is white.
Closer.
A bunch of it.
Red paintbrush.
More white ones on the other side of the trail.
Little Cottonwood Creek and the Transfer Tow.
Daisy like flowers and paintbrush.
Western coneflower.
Lots of lupine.
The Alta Town Park again.
The ridge on the other side of the canyon.
Little sign reminding you to stay on the trail.
Forest.
Lupine and geraniums.
Nice little bench.
"From Sea Floor to Mountaintop.
Major geologic events shaped the canyon we see today.
During most of geologic time, Little Cottonwood Canyon was occupied by an inland sea.
Sedimentary rocks-limestone, shale and quartzite-were deposited in shallow water long before tectonic forces created the Wasatch Mountains. Molten ingenious rocks (quartz, monzonite and granodiorite) invaded the sediments about 35 million years ago and deposited high-grade silver ore, discovery of which led to the first human settlements in Alta. Many of these different rock types are easily seen from this viewpoint."
"Glaciers like the one shown here receded from the Wasatch Mountains several thousand years ago. Where glaciers have remained following the last ice age, they are receding rapidly due to climate change."
"The Power of Ice
About 16,000 years ago, the spot where you stand today was buried beneath a sheet of ice nearly a quarter mile deep and more than 2 miles across.
This massive ice sheet extended all the way into the Salt Lake Valley, and as it crawled across the landscape it carved out the broad U-shape of Little Cottonwood Canyon, leaving steep slopes that provide excellent ski terrain and topography that draws in approaching winter storms."
With the view from it.
Enjoying the trail.
Some larkspur and other flowers.
More forest.
Buttercups.
Continuing along.
Lupine with a bumblebee.
Flower lined trail.
Another daisy like flower.
Continuing along.
Forest.
Geranium. Are those little baby flowers around it? Cuuuute!
A few geraniums.
The hill above.
"Bonanza!
The first town of Alta was built when silver was discovered here in Little Cottonwood Canyon.”
“The buildings of Old Town Alta were built right next to each other, often connected by wooden boardwalks and sometimes sharing walls. Early residents cut down nearly all the trees on the surrounding mountainsides increasing avalanche risk and degrading the canyon’s ecology.”
“Fueled by the discovery of silver at the Emma Mine in 1870, the original town of Alta was a place of prosperity and entertainment. But prosperity was soon followed by disaster. Besieged first by avalanches and the consumed by fire, the original town of Alta was destroyed in 1878.
A new town was relocated a few hundred feet west and south of the old town. Buildings were sited at least 20 feet apart, and streets ran south to north, with the goal of allowing avalanche debris to flow down streets and reducing fire hazard. These strategies were helpful but by 1880 the avalanches resumed and were followed by more avalanche events in 1881, 1884, and 1885. After this the new town was doomed and largely abandoned.”
“A mule powered narrow-gauge railroad brought supplies into the canyon and silver ore out. The ore from the local Emma Mine was transported by rail to New York City and hauled by ship to a smelter in England.”
“Early Human Impacts
Human activities in Alta during the mining era created profound impacts on the environment. Forests were stripped for timber, and streams were diverted for drinking, washing, and cleaning, with wastewater returning to Little Cottonwood Creek.
Perhaps the biggest impact came from the underground workings of the mines. Tunnels and mine shafts brought water laden with heavy metals to the surface and into Little Cottonwood Creek.”
I did not know that the original town was destroyed, just by sheer ignorance. I didn’t know it was abandoned and became a ghost town either. Fascinating!
The hill above.
Continuing along.
Peaks across the way.
The Transfer Tow and a hotel tow.
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Panoramic.
The hill above.
Cute little bird. I swear it is not much bigger than the hummingbirds we saw earlier.
Continuing along.
Into a nice thicker forest area.
Looking back the other way.
Continuing along.
Little Cottonwood Creek again.
“Keep it Pure!
Little Cottonwood Creek is our source for drinking water.”
“Mining activity and excessive logging have had detrimental effects on water quality in the past, but early land managers recognized the need to protect this high-altitude water supply. Reclamation of old mines and ongoing reforestation of mountain slopes helps purify the water that collects in this canyon.”
“Drinking Water for Today
The Wasatch Forest Reserve was created in 1906 for the purpose of protecting the water supply for the residents of the valley below, at their request. It is now part of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
You are looking at Little Cottonwood Creek, which has been protected for drinking water supply for more than 100 years. Water from this creek enters a treatment plant near the canyon mouth and is part of the water supply for residents of Sandy City, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Millcreek City, and Salt Lake City.”
“Water from this and other canyons of the Wasatch Mountains flows downhill to the Salt Lake Valley, where many hundreds of thousands of people use this water daily.
Little Cottonwood Creek starts just upstream from here in Albion Basin, so activities here will eventually impact the water coming from someone’s faucet in the valley below. The protection of Little Cottonwood Creek is a public health benefit for the residents of the valley below.”
Woo.
Little Cottonwood Creek.
Gnarly twin trees.
The creek again.
Continuing along.
The top of the Lower Albion Meadows at a major trail split. Okay, it did let out right where I thought it would.
You have a couple of options here. You can continue forward now along the Snake Pit Trail up to the Albion Meadows. You can hang left and continue up the main Albion Meadows Trail. Hang left and go down the Transfer Tow road, or just turn around and go down the Lower Albion Meadows Trail. We decided to continue up the Snake Pit. I decided to make that a separate post.
I originally planned to go down the Transfer Tow road but ultimately decided to go down the Lower Albion Meadows Trail the way we came instead.
Cute log bench.
Pretty forest.
Pretty meadow.
Paintbrush.
One of the little hotel ski lifts.
Hotels.
One of the old mines across the way. It looks like the main Little Cottonwood Canyon Road was built right on top of the tailings. Or it might just be they pushed the tailings and/or other debris over to put the road in? I have no idea, just guessing based on what I see.
Geraniums.
More forest.
The other side of the canyon.
Fireweed.
Closer.
Forest.
Alta Town Park and the volleyball game is still going on.
View down canyon.
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Panoramic.
The hill above us.
Continuing along.
Lots of lupine.
Paintbrush. I really love the bright magenta ones.
Back to the white paintbrush. I’m not sure how rare this is but I have only ever seen it once or twice before. I’m not sure if it is albino, or just a different species (there are over a 100 species in Utah).
More.
They are super pretty!
White and yellow seem to be the ones I see least often, and now we have seen both this year. Fun!
This is a pretty good sized patch of them.
Another patch mixed in with some red ones.
Almost back down to the Wildcat Base
View down canyon.
Cute little potgut squirrel in a lupine bush.
It’s den.
The hill above.
Continuing along.
Jacobs ladder.
Lupine and paintbrush.
Paintbrush.
Collins Gulch.
Fireweed.
Jacobs ladder.
Willow apple gall. These are from a sawfly.
Another.
Lots of paintbrush.
Lupine seeds.
These are cute. Google says they are a Lydia broom.
The Hellgate Cliffs.
Mutant coneflower.
A normal one.
Big patch of fireweeds.
The little side creek again.
With more fireweeds.
Closer.
The hill above.
Geraniums.
Almost back to the bottom.
The bottom of the Transfer Tow.
You can see Mount Baldy peeking out above Collins Gulch.
The Wildcat ski lift.
These are different.
I assume this is the operator booth for the ski lift?
The ski lift again.
The Skier Services building again.
The Goldminers Daughter Lodge.
Back to the parking lot.
View down.
From here we decided to drive up to the Albion Base again.
View down canyon (PSP). Oh boy, it looks like we might get some rain.
Different view of Mount Baldy above Collins Gulch (PSP).
The Albion Base (PSP).
There is still a long line of cars waiting to go up the Summer Road.
The view down canyon.
The top of one of the weird tube things. It looks like there is a conveyer belt in it? I still don’t know if this is for people, supplies, or maybe inner tubes? I am not a winter sports person… or well much of any sports, so I don't know.
They have been doing all sorts of construction up here the last few years oh and hey, we have a friend.
Hello buddy!
More construction.
I don’t think I have ever noticed this super old mine shaft before (PSP).
Another old mineshaft (PSP). This one I have definitely seen before.
I decided to stop at the welcome sign and get a better shot of it. It’s super cute. It looks like it is carved granite, which is totally fitting.
The Hellgate Cliffs (PSP).
Heading down the canyon (PSP).
My favorite view down the perfect U-shaped canyon (PSP).
I love the roadside sunflowers (PSP).
The mouth of the canyon (PSP). Is that smoke?
Spectacular sun rays (PSP). I guess what I thought was smoke is more sun rays... probably bouncing off of lake dust.
A couple more shots of it (PSP).
Cute butterfly mural (PSP).
More fun sun rays.
That was really fun! The wildflowers are great right now. The views were nice, and there were not a lot of people. Plus it was super easy, which is what I wanted today. 9 squirrels.
As for difficulty, it is mostly flat, DR3.
Dogs are not allowed in Little Cottonwood Canyon, so be sure to leave Fido home for this one.
