Albion Basin

Albion Basin is always cooler than you would expect.
THe campground host was very gracious and helpful.
I love hiking in the area.

We were really looking forward to escape into the mountains for the week and enjoy the quiet serenity. Unfortunately, during our stay it sounded like a downtown Salt Lake construction site during the day. Extensive terrain work was occurring adjacent to our campsite with heavy machinery and trucks passing constantly. There was also some dynamite blasts. When we tried to escape to Cecret Lake, we were met with weedwackers and a scuba diver. The campsite was well maintained and site 8 right next the creek is idyllic, but if you are looking forward to silence, you may need to call to see if there is any work going on at the same time. I understand the importance of these projects, but it was still a bit disappointing.

Loved being right next to the trails. The wildflowers were magnificent. The campsite was clean and partly shady. Easy access to restrooms and water.

This was a great get-a-way close enough to town that I could go to work for the day and relax at night. The camp host is the best! She has been there for at least 13 years. She even puts scented candles in the vault toilets to minimize the smell, and she keeps the campground nice and clean; just don't step on the flowers, and you will be okay (we did not find this out by experience :-) ) We finally saw a moose despite the construction nearby. The campsite is at the trailhead to Cecret Lake, which is an excellent hike for the family, although it can sometimes be a bit steep.

Our campsite was beautiful, clean, and ready for us when we got there. The wildflowers were amazing. We saw 4 moose at a higher campsite close. Our host was very nice. A hike trailhead to Cecret Lake was right next to our site. We will absolutely come back to Albion Basin.

Loved the scenery of the place. But unfortunately we were crazy close to the lake trail, site 9. We had people going through our campground, and walking past from sunrise to sundown.

The Alta employees are also some of the douchiest people I have ever met, they just arent helpful at all.

There was also a ton of construction going on in the campground, massive Kennecott style trucks moving rocks driving like 25 MPH through the camp ground. That went on for the last 2 days we were there and there was no warning about it from the campground.

There is only a site or 2 I would stay at up here... again the scenery is amazing but the hikers are overwhelming for half of the campground.

Love this campground and waking up to the sound of streams, birds, and the dramatic view of Devil’s Castle!!! So gorgeous and cool up there. Well maintained grounds, porta-pots, and friendly, helpful camp hosts.

Peaceful, beautiful and full of flowers and great hikes!

Incredible spot! Highly recommend and would love to be back there.

The good:
1) The campfire pit had a metal grate that could be placed on half of the firepit. We were able to put tin cups on it to warm up some hot cocoa. I wish we had brought more wood though - not much loose wood on the ground to use. And the firepit was the only cooking option on site (no standing grills for briquettes).

2) It is a very pretty area. Star gazing was spectacular - we even saw a shooting star.

3) The bathrooms had TP. I will say that. Cleanliness will depend on your fellow campers. Many people might prefer having a Lowe's 5-gallon bucket lined with a trash bag and a $10 toilet seat from Walmart's camping department to use instead though.

4) There is great cell phone reception and data was only moderately slowed (which is good to know for emergencies).

The bad:
1) At 5am (pitch black outside) some guy started walking up and down the gravel road that leads to all the campsites, while talking loudly about his interests and his awesomeness. He woke a lot of people up. A female camper asked him to quiet down, at which point the guy became argumentative with her. My point: we had no recourse to deal with this guy (especially when caring for kids) unless we were prepared for potential confrontation. In the heat of the moment we could not find a phone number for the park ranger to address the situation. If this middle-of-the-night idiot wanted to stir up trouble, there would be a lot of barefoot, PJ-wearing sleepy heads he could mess with. Lesson learned: know the number to call in the event of a problem.

2) The road that leads to the campsites is all gravel, and there are some hilly areas. Anyone walking or driving on it will be heard for decent distance. But also, we saw a mini van towing a small trailer get stuck on one of the smaller hills (the gravel was deep enough that it made it difficult for the van to get traction).