Albion Basin

Campground Review:

An absolutely amazing campground that sits at the very top of Little Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City.  It is surrounded by snow even into August, and soaring peaks, along with gorgeous alpine lakes!  Given its close proximity to SLC however, don't plan on walking up to a site Friday-Monday.  These sites are usually booked through a couple months in advance, but occasionally you'll get lucky like us and be able to find something during the week.  All the booking is done through the Albion Basin Campground  website.  Most of the sites are singles that go for $25 a night but there are also a couple group sites that go for $75.  Each site has a large picnic table along with a metal fire ring with a BBQ grill you can flip over the top.  There are also plenty of spigots and vault toilets scattered throughout the campground and the campground host has firewood that you can buy.

Nearby there are a plethora of outdoor activities and recreation opportunities!  From riding mountain bikes around at Snowbird, to climbing cliffs on all the surrounding mountains.  There are also easier day hike options like going 0.5 mile to Cecret Lake or hiking a few miles over Catherine Pass to the Brighton Basin where there are a ton of lakes around!  If you want to make a summit and take in the view from above then Sunset Peak or Sugarloaf Peak are good half day hiking options.  If you don't want to hike you can pay for a sky tram pass at Snowbird and ride up to Hidden Peak!  For those looking for more of a challenge, Devils Castle offers a good close objective that can be done through a technical (all routes .10a+) face route or a low fifth class traverse that crosses the castle from east-west or west-east.

Product Review:

Being a Ranger for the Dyrt allows us to test and review gear from time to time!  This time we got to test out the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet meal.

Pros: 

• The pros as with all the Mountain House's we've eaten before, is the convenience of having a warm meal deep in the backcountry.  
• It's also very convenient to be able to cook and eat out of the same pouch which cuts down on your cleanup and makes things a lot quicker and tidier.  
• This is definitely in my Top 3 for Mountain House breakfasts along with the Southwest Hash, and Biscuits and Gravy.  It's good because there are a lot of flavors and a little bit of starch in the hash browns to soak up the extra juiciness.

Cons:

• The only cons I could think of for the actual meal itself was that it needs a little more texture or crunch to help break up the monotony that is usually Mountain House.  We brought some toast and tortillas , which are both easy to bring car camping and back packing.
• The other cons would be more in design of the pouch as they are not recyclable or compostable so they do generate a decent amount of trash just for the sake of convenience.  They also tend to expand at altitude, but their newer Pro-Paks remedy that situation.

Score: 4/5 

We've yet to find a Mountain House that we could eat entirely without getting tired of the flavor or consistency without having to incorporate other ingredients so this one gets a 4 as well.  We have high hopes however for the Turkey Dinner that we're gonna try at Mt. Borah!