Little Cottonwood Canyon (Salt Lake County, Utah)

Little Cottonwood Canyon lies within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest along the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley, roughly 15 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah. The canyon is part of Granite, a CDP and "Community Council" designated by Salt Lake County. The canyon is a glacial trough (U-shaped canyon), carved by an alpine glacier during the last ice age, 15,000 to 25,000 years ago. A number of rare and endemic plant species are found in the canyon's Albion Basin. Introduced Mountain goats inhabit the surrounding mountains. The Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was built of blocks of quartz monzonite, granite, and granodiorite which Latter Day Saint pioneers quarried from the Little Cottonwood Stock near the mouth of the canyon. State Route 210 is the primary access road to the canyon, running from the canyon mouth up to Alta. Little Cottonwood Creek runs down the length of the canyon, beginning at Cecret Lake at Alta and flowing westward.