Big Springs Hollow Trail | Provo Canyon

One of our favorite parks is Big Springs Park in Provo Canyon. There is a trailhead, and we recently hiked the Big Springs Hollow Trail. This trail is a bit of a steep climb, but it is beautiful and mostly shady.

Hike Info

Distance: 4.0 miles RT
Rating: Moderate
Elevation Change: 880 feet
Dog-Friendly: Yes

Big Springs Hollow Trail starts at the top of the park and heads into the woods. The trail follows the stream for most of the hike and mostly stays in the shade. It is a steady climb as the trail heads up to the spring area.

The trail crosses a small bridge and heads left of the sign.

There are lots of little bridges as you walk along the stream. One of our favorite parts was coming to another bridge as we hiked. Lots of people come and camp along this trail, so you will pass campgrounds as you hike, too.

This is the first bridge you come to. It is a good turn around point for young kiddos.

One campsite had a large teepee built from logs.

After about a mile the trail comes to a large meadow. We love the views! There is a great spot to throw rocks down by the river after you cross the meadow. It makes for the perfect stop along the trail, and even a great turn around point because the trail gets steeper from this point.

The kids had fun exploring along the river right after the meadow.

The trail continues back into the trees. We saw lots of beautiful wildflowers when we hiked in early July. Watch for a trail sign pretty far into the hike. The sign is broken, and it’s hard to tell where to go. Head left to make it to Big Springs. Soon the trail will begin to climb. It gets really steep for a minute, so be careful not to slip.

We liked the shade on this trail, but it is a climber!

This is the broken sign. Head left at this junction.

The trail comes to another intersection. There is a trail sign to help you. Go right at the junction and it’s about 0.2 miles to Big Springs. At this point in the hike, the trail is in big shady trees and it’s pretty flat over to the springs.

The trail is a steep climb after the first junction until you reach the next junction.

Big Springs isn’t very far from the sign, and the trail flattens out.

It is in a deep, shady part of the forest.

Soon you will come to another bridge that crosses the springs. When we hiked the trail in mid-July the spring was nonexistent. Although there was little water, it was still beautiful. There was a little bubbling spring with wildflowers all around. We explored and looked at the water and flowers for a little while before heading back down the trail.

When you arrive at this bridge, you will know you made it to Big Springs.

We explored down through the rocks to find the springs.

There wasn’t a big spring running, but we loved the wildflowers.

We enjoyed the hike even though Big Springs wasn’t very big at all.

Hiking back took a lot less time, but this trail took our family about 3 hours to complete with the steady climb. One of the nice things about this trail is that it is pretty all along the way. You can hike as far as you’d like and turn back. We like to walk this trail part of the way in the fall and enjoy the beautiful fall colors. We also spotted a ton of butterflies on this hike. There were so many different colors and varieties. It was so fun, and kept the kids interested as we hiked.

Big Springs Hollow Trail is beautiful in the fall.

There were all sorts of colors and varieties. It was awesome.

Big Springs Hollow was a nice hike, and we can’t wait to try it again earlier in the summer to see what the water looks like when it’s flowing stronger.