The Dark Hollow Trail is an upper-intermediate ride in the Brian Head
area. Trailhead elevation is 11,000 if
you start from the shuttle parking area. You'll need
to ride a bit of the Sidney Peaks trail to get there. Just about everyone does this
ride with a shuttle, but there's a loop ride option I'll discuss below.
View from Brian Head Peak, looking
south towards Cedar Breaks. Initial photos and ride report July 27, 2001 by Bruce.
Latest update September 16, 2022.
The Dark Hollow trail consists of 6 miles of singletrack
dropping 2200 vertical feet from the Sidney Peaks trail, then 6 miles of
doubletrack in Second Left Hand Canyon out to Highway 143, with another
2300 feet of elevation loss. Because of the elevation and north-facing
slopes, the expected riding season is July through October.
Riding down a more gnarly stretch. The first 1/4 mile
of Dark Hollow is definitely expert-level, and most riders will walk this
stretch.
NOTE! In 2017 this trail was burned and then flood-damaged. It was
rebuilt and reopened in 2021. The
top mile follows the old route (and can be steep), while the rest is newly
built. And while the dirt road in Second Left Hand Canyon (lower Dark
Hollow) used to be plush, it's regularly damaged by flooding from the burn
scar.
Trail view in a burned area in 2022. The re-growth is
a slow process.
Trailheads and Connections
Brian Head Peak trailhead
Most riders will get to the trail when their shuttle vehicle drops them
off at the Brian Head Peak trailhead. This trailhead is located on the
gravel road to Brian Head Peak, which starts on Highway 143 south of Brian
Head. At 1/4 mile past the
"summit" sign, turn left and drive 1.8 miles to the parking and
shuttle drop-off area on your left. The Sidney Peaks trail is just uphill
and across the road. It will be 1.1 miles to the top of the Dark Hollow
trail.
Drone view of the trailhead on the Brian Head Peak
road.
From Second Left Hand Canyon
The shuttle pickup for Dark Hollow is where the doubletrack portion of the ride meets
Highway 143, just 3.9 miles from the middle of Parowan -- or 9 miles downhill
from Brian Head. There's room for a few cars to park just off Highway
143. If you drive uphill 6 miles on the Second Left Hand Canyon dirt road, there's a small spot where up to 3 vehicles can park at the
point where the singletrack meets the doubletrack. (Note: compared to
before the fire, the dirt road is very rough, requiring a 4x4
high-clearance vehicle.) This spot can be a good starting point for doing
a loop ride.
Parking spot at the end of the
singletrack at the Second Left Hand Canyon road.
Yankee Meadows
A better option for a loop ride is to drive uphill on the Yankee
Meadows road. This road is suitable for sedans, being half paved and half
smooth gravel. You can park at the reservoir and pedal 1.5 miles to the
intersection of the Second Left Hand Canyon road with FR 048, then
continue uphill to ride the loop I describe below.
Yankee
Meadows, looking north down the boat ramp. There's a picnic area and
bathrooms at the reservoir.
Sidney Valley Viewpoint
You can start from the opposite end of the Sidney Peaks trail by
driving the Sidney Valley road from Highway 143 to the viewpoint. Here you
can pedal 3.2 miles up Sidney Peaks to the top of Dark Hollow. When done as
a loop, this puts most of the climbing at the end of the ride. As a
shuttled ride, this option is longer (both for the bike and for the shuttle vehicle)
and has more climbing.
Climbing up Sidney Valley on
the loop ride.
The Dark Hollow Trail
My description of the Dark Hollow trail will focus on the
six-mile singletrack portion. Some riders may feel slighted because they
love to blast down the six miles of doubletrack. My apologies.
First, you'll arrive at the top of the
Dark Hollow trail via the Sidney Peaks trail. For
most riders, this is eastbound from the Brian Head Peak trailhead. It's
1.1 miles to the 4-way trail intersection with Lowder Ponds and Dark
Hollow, where you'll turn left. If you're coming up from the Sidney Valley
viewpoint, it's 3.2 miles from the parking area.
Bruce
heads east on the Sidney Valley trail in 2019.
Just 30 feet after forking away from Sidney Peaks, the Dark
Hollow trail hits a quarter-mile drop-in zone of technical stuff. The bike
shop says most riders walk this section. But for an expert or
upper-intermediate rider, it's not too tricky.
Rolling into the first turn on Dark Hollow. It's more
techy than it looks in the video (see below).
After a tight turn and more boulders, you'll roll down into fir and aspen forest.
The "vertical mile" of Dark Hollow descends
5,300 feet to Parowan. Most riders go only to the mouth of Second Left-hand Canyon at 6600
feet elevation. The length of the combined singletrack and doubletrack to the highway is
12 miles, but add 4 miles of paved road if you're going into Parowan.
Descending
through embedded boulders and loose chunks.
Because Dark Hollow sees many fewer riders than Bunker
Creek, it also receives less maintenance. Watch for deadfall.
As you drop down Dark Hollow, the trail is often rough with
embedded rocks. These sections aren't very
long, but they can be challenging to less-skilled riders. Intermediate riders may want to walk
some of the more difficult sections of downhill.
A blow-down that took his friends down with him
across the trail.
Just after mile 0.6 of relatively rapid descending, you'll
reach a flat meadow area (popular with sheep), with the Paradise Canyon trail
forking away to the right. (In 2022, the Paradise Canyon trail is hard to spot and it's
"closed for repairs" from fire and flood damage.)
Although only the first section is exposed to high-altitude sun and
wind, I suggest a strong sun-block. And because cold storms pop up most
afternoons, pack a rain slicker. (I keep one in my under-seat pack, so I
always have it.)
Early in the descent. We haven't
reached the burn scar yet. The dead trees here are courtesy of a bark
beetle 20 years ago.
At mile 0.7, the trail will fall onto an old doubletrack for
around 1/2 mile. This is the only boring part of the ride. Watch for the right turn off the doubletrack at mile 1.3,
which in 2022 is marked with small temporary signs. The trail now becomes
much more interesting!
The only
spot that wasn't marked with some sort of trail sign was the intersection of the singletrack with the Second
Left-hand Canyon road. Just remember that, for the shuttled ride, you're going downhill -- turn
180 degrees left at the
road. (But if you want to go uphill to Yankee Meadows Reservoir, you can go down
First Left-hand Canyon to the highway from there. It adds about 2 miles.)
We're in the burn scar, as young aspens grow among
the skeletons of their parents. From here downhill, the trail has been
completely rebuilt.
The trail will enter a long stretch of burn scar. This stretch of trail has been completely rebuilt with
bench cut technique. The tighter turns have tall berms and there are
frequent swoops.
The trail spends a bit more time in undamaged forest than in the burn
scar, as the path winds around through banked turns. Dark Hollow is a lot
of fun to ride. I prefer this trail over Bunker Creek.
A log ride at the side of the trail.
Rolling through a banked turn in healthy
aspen forest and rocketing into a rolling stretch on a flat area.
The bench-cut technique that the
trailbuilders used is obvious in this pass in dark fir and aspen forest.
As you approach Second Left Hand Canyon, the grade of the
trail lessens. There will be a bit of climbing. You'll drop through a few
small drainages. In the early season -- or when it's been raining -- these
may be a deep splash.
One of the small splashes. But at least this one
isn't a mud puddle.
At this point, you'll begin to see the red limestones of the
canyon through the burned trees. The trail then makes a drop to the
doubletrack. If you're doing a loop ride, head to your car. If it's the
full-shuttle ride, turn 180 degrees downhill on the dirt road.
View west into Second Left Hand Canyon as we get
lower on the mountain.
Brian Head Peak is light-colored soft volcanic rock, deposited
in the last 20 million years. The bright pink cliffs of Second Left Hand Canyon are formed
of Claron-formation limestone from about 40 million years ago during the
Tertiary Era. This limestone was deposited at the bottom of a large fresh-water
lake, before the plateau area was uplifted away from the valleys of the Great
Basin. After a couple of miles on the surface volcanic deposit, you'll drop
through an area of intrusive igneous rock (granite), before cruising through
pink dirt of the Claron formation and some gray volcanic tuff (ash that settled
to form a deep layer).
View downhill on the doubletrack portion of the ride.
It's 6 miles of doubletrack down to the highway. The
trees change from spruce and aspen to juniper, fir, pinion, and box elder.
The doubletrack can be rough because every little ravine pours flood
waters across the road. So it's no longer the smooth cruise of days gone
by -- as in this photo.
Rolling down the doubletrack at 30 mph in 2001. In
the past those last 6 miles could be done in about 15-20 minutes.
An old video from 2002 of a
trip down Dark Hollow...
Loop Ride information
While you can grind up Highway 143 after doing the full DH
ride -- and I've done this -- I don't recommend it. It's brutally steep
and there's no significant shoulder. Being hit by traffic is a real risk.
Instead, I recommend a shorter ride with Forest Road 048 and eastern
Sidney Peaks as your uphill.
Cranking uphill on FR 048, in an area that's been
burned.
FR 048
As noted above, there's a small clearing for parking on the Second Left
Hand Canyon doubletrack right across from the bottom of the Dark Hollow
singletrack. If you have a 4x4, you can drive up the DT to this spot, or
drop down from the Sidney Valley road after climbing past Yankee Meadows
reservoir.
From the bottom of the singletrack up to the Sidney Valley Viewpoint is
exactly 5 miles, with 1700 vertical feet of climbing.
For most of the climb, you're in a recovering burn
area. There's no shade.
There are only a couple of viewpoints as you climb FR 048,
but it's worth stopping to take a look.
Expect to have a few ATVs motor past as you pedal.
And while there were no other mountain bikers, I saw tire tracks that were
fresh since a rainstorm 2 days previously.
Looking
west from FR 048.
The pitch of the climbing isn't too bad for a conditioned
rider. There's a sustained climb near the top that may make you drop into
granny and spin.
When you hit the parking loop for the Sidney Valley Viewpoint, veer to
the right on the singletrack that skirts the border of the parking area to the
north.
Looking south uphill during a grunt up to the
ridgeline.
Sidney Peaks westbound
You're now on the Sidney Peaks trail. You'll gain a bit of elevation as
you ride west toward the top of Dark Hollow, but most of your climbing
will be up and then down again. The overall total of climbing will be
around 600 vertical feet on this three miles of trail, as you gain around
400 feet in elevation.
Looking toward the drop-off on the north side of the
ridgeline on the Sidney Peaks trail. There are some views here.
Sidney Peaks was a hit-and-miss during the fire of
2017. Some areas are still relatively pristine, while others are an
other-worldly experience.
Watch for oncoming riders. They may not expect someone to be
coming uphill.
Bruce rolls a turn as the trail winds through
connifers.
At mile 3.2 from the Sidney Valley viewpoint, you'll arrive
at the four-way trail intersection. Turn to the right and drop down Dark
Hollow.
Leaving the big meadow on Sidney Peaks. Just a mile
more to the top of Dark Hollow.
Loop Ride of Dark Hollow's singletrack...
If the above video does not appear on your
browser/device, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking
here.
Bottom Line:
Very fun trail, although much more technical than Bunker Creek and --
perhaps because of that -- less
ridden. While usually done with a shuttle, a loop ride of the upper (singletrack)
portion is a good choice.
The trail winds through aspen forest in this 2002
photo,
near the fork to the Scout Camp Loop. Note that
rehab of the Hendersen Lake/Scout Camp route is not complete as of 2022.
Shuttle service:
Shuttles are available from the bike shops at Brian Head. The cost per
rider will be around $25 (2018 price), with a two-rider minimum. (If
you're a single rider, you can request to go as an add-on by calling the
shop. You need to be
flexible about when you go. It's fairly easy to add yourself to a shuttle
run to Bunker Creek. But fewer riders go to Dark Hollow and on a given
day, there may not be ANY shuttles doing the Dark Hollow run unless you
buy enough tickets to make it happen.)
Note: Paradise Canyon and Hendrickson Lake (Scout Camp Loop) have not
yet been repaired and are not open at the time of this update..
Getting there, self-shuttle: Leave your shuttle car on U-143,
anywhere below Second Left-hand Canyon (the canyon is up the second gravel
road on the left after entering the canyon). GPS of the intersection of
U-143 with the trail is N 37° 47.931' W 112° 49.350'. On U-143, head up
the canyon from Brian Head to the summit. Just 1/4 mile past the summit
sign, turn left on a gravel road (GPS N 37° 40.136' W 112° 50.350').
Drive 2.5 miles to the peak of the mountain to start your ride. GPS is GPS
N 37° 40.904' W 112° 49.827'. (Note the parking area to your left at 1.8
miles. Once you start riding, you'll turn onto the singletrack across the
road.)
Bottom of singletrack for loop ride: Drive up the Second
Left Hand Canyon doubletrack, found on the east side of Highway 143 just 3.9 miles from the middle of Parowan --
or 9 miles downhill
from Brian Head. If you drive uphill 6 miles on the
dirt road, there's a small spot where up to 3 vehicles can park at the
point where the singletrack meets the doubletrack. (Note: compared to
before the fire, the dirt road is very rough, requiring a 4x4
high-clearance vehicle.)
Yankee Meadows (loop ride): If you're driving a sedan,
take the improved road to Yankee Meadows. Park at the far end of the
reservoir, then begin your ride on the ATV road. It will be 1.5 miles to
the road fork where the Second Left Hand Canyon doubletrack meets FR 018
for the climb uphill. There is a bathroom at this trailhead.
