Nice trail with multiple bridges, a small stream and a waterfall. If you happen to be on your way to Cedar Breaks or staying in Parowan UT, Hidden Haven trailhead is under a 10 minutes drive up the canyon and offers a quick, easy and fun hike. See the damage from a previous flood.
Distance: 1.62 miles round trip
Time: 1 hours
Start: Brian Head, Utah. Hidden Haven Pull-out on UT-143
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation Gain: 298 ft
Fees: Free
I recommend you have the trail downloaded as there are many split off trails and there aren’t any maps or signs. We were just trying to follow the trail that had the most footsteps and we successfully made it to the waterfall. As a general rule, stay to the left (except the first offshoot).
We had just come from Cedar Breaks and I was amazed at all the differences between these two locations. At this location, there was a decent amount of sagebrush and some interesting grass like plant growing near the river. The mountains were dark in color and pretty jagged and rough. The trail is partially shaded and there are some picnic benches about half a mile out (seemed like quite a ways to carry a meal).
We could hear a lot of cicadas chirping, and we even saw some on the trails. They have a very short lifespan of only 4-6 weeks and usually die out in late June and into July. I thought it was very cool to see this tree trunk with the exoskeleton still attached all over.
Wooden and metal bridges seemed to be in good repair.
This weeping rock, just before the waterfall, was very cool because of the beautiful colors in the rock mixed with the greens of the plants and moss. There was a small cavern that a person could fit in, but I didn’t get in because I didn’t want to get my shoes wet.
We heard from a local that there was a heavy rain here around 10 years ago that caused flooding – it took out a lot of the vegetation including this large tree. The flow of the river seems like it has changed since the flood because we saw one bridge that seemed to be in the wrong spot with no ravine under it.
And here is the actual waterfall, not a huge amount of water flowing, but we are in a huge drought so that is to be expected. The water is often flowing from the entire flat section (about 10 feet wide).
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