The Mossy Cave Trail Hike at Bryce Canyon National Park

The Mossy Cave Trail Hike is unique to Bryce Canyon National Park as it is considered part of the park, but it is not located in the paid portion of the park. 

So that means that it is free to do this hike!

This hike is only 0.8 miles round trip, so it is pretty easy when it comes to hiking distance. 

When you arrive there is a main parking lot and there is also an overflow parking lot.

We heard that the parking lot fills up fast so to go in the morning or in the late afternoon. 

We chose to go in the late afternoon and it was almost empty of people.

This is what the parking lot and first part of the hike looks like from Google Earth:

As you pull into the parking lot, there is a sign for RV and overflow parking too.

The parking lot was pretty open when we got there in the late afternoon.

They had bathrooms there too.

This is the trailhead marker showing the distance of the hike as 0.4 miles one way.

As we headed out on the hike, we had great views of the hoodoos.

As we reached the first bridge, we took in the amazing views.

Once we passed the first bridge, we continued on the trail to the 2nd bridge. This is a view of the trail on Google Earth.

This is the view of the 2nd bridge as we walked up to it.

On the far right side of the 2nd bridge, there is a place to go down into the river bed to hike to the waterfall. It's a little steep, but we got down it just fine.

This is the view of the short climb down from the river bed.

Then we hiked the short distance to the waterfall.

Then we headed back to the 2nd bridge and crossed over and followed the trail to the Mossy Cave.

To get there, you take a few switchbacks on the trail and you will come to a sign. The trail to the left goes to the Mossy Cave. The trail to the right goes to the waterfall.

This is what it looks like on the map from Google Earth.

This is what the sign on the trail looks like:

We took the trail to the left to the Mossy Cave.

As you reach the Mossy Cave, there is a small fenced area along with a sign explaining more about it.

Based on the sign, it sounds like the Mossy Cave is really cool to see in the winter as it has icicles.

This is what it looks like in the summer. It's not a very big cave, but it was still fun to see it.

We headed back on the trail to the sign we saw and then went straight to see the waterfall from the top.

You can see the switchbacks we took from the 2nd bridge. Go past it to see the waterfall from above.

As we were hiking along the trail we saw this sign explaining that this waterfall is man made and called the Tropic Ditch.

It was constructed by the Pioneers to bring water to the town of Tropic.

This is the view of the Tropic Ditch Waterfall from the sign on the trail.

We followed the trail all the way to the waterfall.

The views were amazing from this spot.

Overall, we loved this hike! Although it is short, it has amazing views, a beautiful waterfall, and is refreshing on a hot day.

We would definitely go back to this hike and do it again.

Mossy Cave Trail Hike in Bryce Canyon National Park -  Map:

(Click on the map above to go to a Google Maps larger view.)

Although this hike is in Bryce Canyon National Park, it is not located in the paid section, so this hike is free.

Total cost for this hike: $0 (FREE)

These are the checklist items I recommend:

• Bring a plenty of water, sandwiches, and snacks
• Bring a hat to keep the sun off of your face.
• I wore trail running shoes, but you could also wear water shoes as this is a short hike and you can walk and play in the water to cool off on a hot summer day.
• A map of the trails