Catherine's Pass and Albion Basin

We managed to gather our very reluctant troop for a mid-morning jaunt to Albion Basin, at Alta ski resort (where I learned to ski oh . . .40 plus years ago), and hiked up the Catherine pass trail, amidst a profusion of wildflowers that had to be seen to be believed. The mid-day light did not allow my camera to do it justice, but I took ton of them anyway, some of which I post below.  The beauty of the world never ceases to amaze me, and that we have eyes to see it is one of the reasons I continue to believe there is a God who cares for all of us.  It was a great day.

 These shots are at the very beginning of the trail, and I was happy to have a reason to stop often. The trail is up there at over 8500 feet elevation, and I struggled from the beginning to catch my breath.  Being out of shape is a downer, but it gave me reason to take it slow and enjoy what was all around me.

The Indian Paintbrush was out in full force in spots, such a bright red in a field of green, it really stands out.

Here is the family hiking up an early part of the trail. It is pretty steep, with sections of relative flat, but largely bounded by wild flowers on all sides, and scenes like the one below.

The kids and Kathleen decided to head back down on a different fork of the trail, which they had heard was really full of flowers. I decided to push ahead up to the pass, where there would be less flowers, but nice views.  Here is some of what the kids and Kathleen found:

And here is what I encountered shortly after leaving them. I really loved this little meadow, at least in part because it was flat :-).

But also because of those cool purple flowers in the background. We had not seen anything like them, so I took out the telephoto lens to zoom in a bit.

Pretty great colors.  After the meadow, you begin a series of steady but manageable switchbacks up to the pass.

Here is the view looking back on that little meadow, and below a close up of some of the flowers along the switchbacks.

 As you reach the top, here is the view that greets you:

Looking down into what I believe to be Catherine Lake, and further on into Big Cottonwood Canyon.

 I sat down to soak it in, and was soon joined by this little fella:

Others were more adventurous. If you look closely at the below, you can see two little dots on the top of what I think is Sunset Peak. Those are people.

The trail up looks steep but doable, and I was tempted, but knew my family would be waiting forever for me if I tried. Hopefully I will be able to come back soon and take a shot. I bet the views are spectacular.

 The trails up high were not as lush as the ones down lower, but still, wild flowers dotted your way all along. What a great place.

As you descend, and find running water, they get more and more lush, until you are surrounded by a profusion of color that just has to make you happy.

At the end, this is the scene that greets you.  Pretty spectacular place.

From there, it was off to see snow leopard cubs at the local Zoo, and then home to collapse.  All in all, a great Saturday.