Big Springs Hollow Trail

Take everything you ever imagined about a city park—the crowds, passing cars, cityscapes. Now throw it all out the window. True, the land in Big Springs Hollow is largely owned by the city of Provo, and the trailhead starts in the city’s Big Spring Park’s parking lot. But within less than 60 seconds, the parking lot is out of sight and suddenly you’re enveloped in a secluded mountain valley in search of the natural springs that feed the meandering creek at your side. Throughout the hike, quaking aspens and big tooth maple provide most of the shade, while thickets of Poplar, River Birch, and Willows cluster near the creek. Criss-crossing the Creek: The main trail follows the south side of this wide slope-sided valley as the creek criss-crosses the trail repeatedly. Sturdy wooden bridges span all of the major creek crossings. For the first 0.7 miles the trail makes a moderate but steady climb, finally arriving at a knoll where the terrain flattens out a bit. After a brief 0.1 mile of level trail, the slope steepens and the ascent returns. Mountain views of Cascade Peak and the backside of the Wasatch front remain ahead of you to the west for most of the hike. Multi-Use Trail Including Motorized Vehicles:  The trail is designated as a non-motorized multi-use trail, with horses, mountain bikers, hikers and winter snowshoers and skiers sharing the trail. They all seem to get along pretty well under the trail’s moderate usage. Hikers still predominate in summer and snowshoers in winter. The gentle side slopes of the valley make avalanche risk negligible. There is no history or visible evidence of avalanches in the area around the trail. Directions to the Trail: Big Springs Park is located near the top of South Fork Canyon Road. From the mouth of Provo Canyon, travel east up Provo Canyon Road to Vivian Park (approx. 8 miles.)  Turn right onto South Fork Road, past Vivian Park, past Giles Ranch, Past South Fork Park, and on to Big Springs Park (approx 2.5 miles.) The hike to Cascade Saddle starts at the Big Springs Park’s upper (west-most) parking lot on the north-side.