Hidden Valley Nature Trail Promises Family-friendly Day Hike
Some of the rock formations on the Hidden Valley Trail form interesting shapes that look like they were sculpted by human hands.
Day hikers can explore a valley enclosed by interesting rock formations at Joshua Tree National Park.
The 1.1-mile Hidden Valley Nature Trail loops around the edges of the bowl in the rocks. Some steps and climbing of rocks are required, but the trail otherwise is fairly level and family friendly.
To reach the trailhead, from the park’s Oasis Visitor Center on Utah Trail just south of Calif. Hwy. 62, take the former south. Once in the park, Utah Trail becomes Park Boulevard. A parking area for the trailhead is located opposite the Hidden Valley Campground.
The trail heads out from the parking area’s northwest corner with a series of stone steps heading up.
At not-quite 0.1 miles, you’ll reach the top of the stone seps and are in Hidden Valley. The opening you walk through to enter the valley allegedly was blasted by Bill Keys from Keys Ranch so that his cattle could access grass growing in the valley.
Whether true or not, the opening and the valley’s rock walls later made this area a perfect spot for rustlers to hide stolen livestock.
A variety of common Mojave Desert plants grow in Hidden Valley.
Today, the trail is a perfect spot for park visitors to watch sunsets. The boulders give you either a unique vista or form a surreal silhouette as the sun sets and the sky’s color transforms from mauve and a vivid orange to blackness. Since the packed-sand trail is well-marked, finding your way out in the dark is easy.
Most hikers take on the trail as a clockwise loop. If you go with the flow as well, you’ll next head a bit downhill.
A number of Mojave Desert plants fill the valley and dot the rock walls. Among them are Joshua trees, yucca, creosote bushes, a few mesquite trees, and even some juniper.
Several signs along the trail provide information about those plants and the valley’s wildlife.
Hidden Valley Trail topo map
As the trail heads downhill, you’ll pass through an array of rock formations and boulders. Among them is rock called the Giant Burrito. Sports Challenge Rock and Locomotion Rock sit almost across from one another, with the former on the right/west and the latter on the left/east.
Upon arriving back at the loop’s start, head down the stone steps to the parking lot.
There’s no shade on the trail, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat. Pets, other than service animals, are not allowed. There’s no cell phone service on the trail.
Image Sources
- 01 – Some of the rock formations on the Hidden Valley Trail form interesting shapes that look like they were sculpted by human hands.: Rob Bignell
- 04 – A variety of common Mojave Desert plants grow in Hidden Valley.: Rob Bignell
- Most of Hidden Valley’s rock walls are made of monzogranite, which fracture along sets of rectangular joints created when they cooled tens of millions of years ago.: Rob Bignell
