Rental Class C motorhome pulling in at Mossy Cave trailhead parking lot, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, October 8, 2015
Mossy Cave Trail
National Park Service
(Accessed July 21, 2022)
Mossy Cave trail is one of the lowest elevation hikes in the park as well as one of the only hikes that begins with a climb and ends with a descent (most day hikes in the park begin with a descent and end with a climb). It is also the northernmost hike in the park, located just off of SR 12 as it winds its way through the park boundary. The trail is 0.4 miles (0.6 km) in length one-way, and forks to provide access to Water Canyon in one direction and to view a sheltered overhang known as Mossy Cave in the other. This area is filled with mosses in the summer and icicles in the winter. Due to the presence of an irrigation ditch dug by local pioneers in the early 1890s, water flows seasonally through Water Canyon on its way from the Tropic Reservoir east of the park to communities in the Paria Valley.
