View uphill from the return singletrack showing Devils Castle to the south. Photos and ride review July 28, 2015 by Bruce.
Devils Castle
at Albion Basin
at Albion Basin
The Devils Castle trail is an upper-intermediate to advanced singletrack in Little Cottonwood's Albion Basin . The ride has substantial climbing at higher altitudes and one short advanced-technical section. The shortest loop ride is six miles with 1300 feet of climbing.
The climb via Albion Basin Road
By the most direct route, there's over 1000 vertical feet of climbing just to reach the singletrack. Starting at the entry station at the end of the Little Cottonwood Canyon road at 8700 feet elevation, you'll head up the dirt Albion Basin road to the campground. Along the way, there will be constant views of the basin and surrounding peaks.
Cranking up the Albion Basin road for the loop ride.
View west down Little Cottonwood from the gravel road. You can see a piece of the copper mine tailings pile on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.
After riding straight up through the campground, turn a bit east at the upper southwest corner.
Go about 50 feet then turn right uphill on a steepish unmarked doubletrack
guarded by the big
green gate. Just over 1/4 mile uphill, make a hard right on the singletrack.
You're now at
9700 feet elevation on the Devil's Castle trail, but you're not through
climbing yet.
Alternate longer tougher climb via Catherines singletrack
Riders who need a bigger challenge can exchange a bit of the dirt road for some tough singletrack. At mile 2.1 from parking, there's a large gravel parking area and a bathroom on the right of the road as the road itself turns left. At the inside corner of the turn (to your left) is the beginning of the Catherines Pass trail.
You're going to link the first section of the main Catherines Pass trail to the campground connector (see the map). You'll bypass 0.8 mile of the road climb, substituting 1.3 miles of expert-level singletrack.
Meadows with flowers!
The trail fork on the optional Catherines Pass route.
Catherines Pass is steep in spots and has some technical rock to bang over. All but the toughest
riders will find one stretch to be 100 feet of hiking. This singletrack
option has some fun
challenges on the uphill, and rewards you with a nice slightly-downhill
traverse to the campground
where you'll join the easier route.
Keep to the right at the singletrack trail fork, unless you want to visit Catherines Pass itself as an up-and-back. The price of admission to these awesome views will be 0.7 miles (one way) of very steep trail with more than a little push-a-bike. The top of Catherines is 11000 feet elevation, over 300 vertical above your current location.
The connector to the campground descends a bit as it heads south. Just after it turns westbound,
it makes a right turn and drops 100 yards to the campground road. (At
the apex of this turn,
a smaller trail heads straight. Although it aims towards Devils Castle,
it dead-ends.)
Descending a bit as we head south toward the campground on the Catherines Pass connector. Devils Castle is straight ahead.
We've found the new trailcut and are starting the Devils Castle trail.
As you hit the campground, keep left onto the westbound road. Pass a camp spur on your left,
then at the pit toilet take the gravel road heading left uphill. There's
a green metal gate
on this road. The road climbs steeply uphill. Pass a spur to a building
on your right, and
the road starts to veer left. (At this spot, the old steeper singletrack
is being naturalized.
Stay on the road a bit longer.)
As you turn to the east, the newer singletrack forks hard right from the doubletrack, southbound.
As you turn to the east, the newer singletrack forks hard right from the doubletrack, southbound.
Devils Castle Singletrack
The singletrack continues a fairly stiff rate of climb, but on this portion the surface is smooth and you should motor right along. You'll pass through stands of fir and little meadows of wildflowers. You will climb about 250 vertical feet over 0.6 miles to reach the ride's highest point at around 9900 feet elevation.
The singletrack continues a fairly stiff rate of climb, but on this portion the surface is smooth and you should motor right along. You'll pass through stands of fir and little meadows of wildflowers. You will climb about 250 vertical feet over 0.6 miles to reach the ride's highest point at around 9900 feet elevation.
Climbing towards the limestone cliffs of the Devils Castle.
The trail winds through a rougher spot of limestone outcrops.
You'll pass over and around outcrops of limestone from the Mississippian or Pennsylvanian Period.
This rock was deposited around 320 million years ago when western Utah
was the bottom of an
ocean basin. There will be a few spots that have embedded rock or a short
steeper pitch, but
overall, this portion of the trail is intermediate in tech requirement.
The altitude is the climbing challenge here. Take a few breaks to check out the views around
you, and behind you. If you grind through this area too quickly, you'll
miss some awesome scenery.
Looking back to the east at some fairly buff trail. The lowest spot on the skyline is Catherines Pass.
Looking up at the Devils Castle.
The trail climbs up near the base of the limestone cliffs of Devils Castle. This is the ride's
highest point at 9900 feet. From here, you can see the trail descending
through a rockslide
and down into the fir forest.
For riders who skipped the Catherines Pass singletrack, the rockslide will be the most challenging
feature on the ride. But the pitch is slightly downhill, and the slabs
have been arranged to
they form a sorta-trail. Just keep your speed up and bang through. It's
not as hard as it looks.
Navigating the rockslide. Nice work.
Paintbrush on the left; columbine on the right; lupine mid-upper right in front of the trees.
The trail now descends steadily through forest and meadows toward Alta's base. Trail forks
are unmarked (2015). When in doubt, take the downhill option. (GPS navigation
here is affected
by the big trees. Your display may show you to be off-course -- causing
you to backtrack or
take the wrong trail fork -- then suddenly update to show that you were
on the right trail all along.)
At this altitude the wildflowers are at their peak for the last two weeks of July. You'll see a lot of lupine and paintbrush, with some sticky geranium and the occasional penstemmon and columbine.
At this altitude the wildflowers are at their peak for the last two weeks of July. You'll see a lot of lupine and paintbrush, with some sticky geranium and the occasional penstemmon and columbine.
When the trail joins doubletrack near a lift building, go downhill to the singletrack at the
bottom of the meadow. You'll see two singletrack options. The lower (left)
singletrack heads
straight and narrow down to the base. The right fork goes to the middle
of the meadow, where
it joins the broad doubletrack route where you'll find most of the hikers.
(GPS track note:
I rode the narrow route on the harder loop via Catherines. The broad trail
is used on the direct-up-Albion
version. Either one will get you downhill.)
Descending through the firs.
Meadow intersection of the right singletrack fork with the broad main trail, looking from downhill.
When the two routes converge, keep to the right and join pavement as you pass the service building
and maintenance-vehicle parking and head up to the road where you parked.
A note on climbing the singletrack: I don't recommend it. Yes, it's a viable option, but very difficult. At the very bottom, the broad hiking route is do-able but steep. The narrow singletrack has two non-rideable hills that you'll have to push up. And once you're in the trees above the Germania turnoff, the limited sight lines may keep descending riders from seeing you until it's too late.
A note on climbing the singletrack: I don't recommend it. Yes, it's a viable option, but very difficult. At the very bottom, the broad hiking route is do-able but steep. The narrow singletrack has two non-rideable hills that you'll have to push up. And once you're in the trees above the Germania turnoff, the limited sight lines may keep descending riders from seeing you until it's too late.
Bottom Line!
Beautiful and worthwhile ride. It requires good aerobic conditioning and altitude acclimatization, plus a bit of technical skill and strong legs.
Beautiful and worthwhile ride. It requires good aerobic conditioning and altitude acclimatization, plus a bit of technical skill and strong legs.
Those looking for a monster ride can add an up-and-back to Catherines Pass and to Germania Pass. See the map.
Paintbrush and lupine.
Riding notes, loop including Catherines
connector:
0.0 Pass guard shack to Albion Basin road
N40 35.526 W111 37.865
2.1 L onto Catherines singletrack
N40 34.969 W111 37.102
2.3 Keep left and uphill at lift road fork
N40 34.958 W111 36.812
2.8 Stay R toward campground
N40 34.740 W111 36.476
3.2 R downhill N40 34.535 W111 36.522
3.3 Join campground road, keep L
N40 34.554 W111 36.602
3.4 L uphill, through green gate
N40 34.501 W111 36.711
3.7 R onto ST Devils Castle
N40 34.321 W111 36.684
4.5 L downhill N40 34.341 W111 36.976
0.0 Pass guard shack to Albion Basin road
N40 35.526 W111 37.865
2.1 L onto Catherines singletrack
N40 34.969 W111 37.102
2.3 Keep left and uphill at lift road fork
N40 34.958 W111 36.812
2.8 Stay R toward campground
N40 34.740 W111 36.476
3.2 R downhill N40 34.535 W111 36.522
3.3 Join campground road, keep L
N40 34.554 W111 36.602
3.4 L uphill, through green gate
N40 34.501 W111 36.711
3.7 R onto ST Devils Castle
N40 34.321 W111 36.684
4.5 L downhill N40 34.341 W111 36.976
4.7 Cross Cecret Lake DT
N40 34.453 W111 36.903
Keep straight (right) at ST fork
N40 34.470 W111 36.906
5.2 Join DT above building
5.3 L downhill after building
N40 34.821 W111 37.182
R on ST N40 34.815 W111 37.211
then L on lower ST after 100 feet
6.0 Cross main trail (caution, hikers!)
N40 35.271 W111 37.516
6.1 Join main trail then keep right
N40 35.365 W111 37.537
Pavement, pass L of building
then up through parking to road
6.4 Back at parking
N40 34.453 W111 36.903
Keep straight (right) at ST fork
N40 34.470 W111 36.906
5.2 Join DT above building
5.3 L downhill after building
N40 34.821 W111 37.182
R on ST N40 34.815 W111 37.211
then L on lower ST after 100 feet
6.0 Cross main trail (caution, hikers!)
N40 35.271 W111 37.516
6.1 Join main trail then keep right
N40 35.365 W111 37.537
Pavement, pass L of building
then up through parking to road
6.4 Back at parking
Map of Albion Basin area
Getting there: From I-15, take the 90th South exit and drive east towards the mountains. This will take you
directly to Little Cottonwood. When you arrive at the stop sign in the
canyon, with the giant
illuminated Little Cottonwood conditions sign on your right, turn right
uphill and drive 8
miles to Alta. Keep straight until the end of the road. Park on the right
side of the road
just before the information booth (the booth is between the lanes of the
road just before it
turns to gravel).
Riding resources:
Single-page
riding guide
GPS track files (right-click and "Save as..."):
Multi-track Albion
Basin GPX
(includes ST, Catherines, Germania)
Loop via
Catherines connector
Direct
Loop with standard return
Albion
Basin Road only
Intercanyon
connections file
High-res topo for printing:
View
map
Lodging, camping, shops:
Links to area resources
