Thenaturalmedic Adventures
Hello there, and thanks so much for joining us here! You are probably wondering what this podcast is all about? In this podcast, we will talk about all sorts of outdoor adventures, but primarily, for now, we will focus on hiking and backpacking. No other outdoor adventure is so accessible to so many people! So please join us as we talk about how to hike/backpack and learn how to hike any length trail from your local neighborhood parks to those long trails such as the Appalachian and others worldwide! Remember... "in every walk with nature; one receives far more than he seeks... - John Muir " See you on the trail!
Thenaturalmedic Adventures
A Quick Hike Through Bryce Canyon’s Mossy Cave Reveals Pioneer Waterworks And Surprising Geology
Video Version: https://youtu.be/SWL355PFqNk
We walk the Mossy Cave trail in Bryce Canyon, tracing a short path that blends hoodoos, pioneer engineering, and a quiet waterfall. Along the way, we explain how diverted water shaped a green corridor and how groundwater carved the cave-like overhang.
• Mossy Cave trail overview and timing
• Pinyon-juniper and ponderosa transition zone
• History of the Tropic Ditch built 1889–1892
• Water diversion effects on plants and microclimate
• Geology of hoodoos and limestone dissolution
• Tropic Falls seasonality and safety features
• “Hike the Hoodoos” challenge mentioned
• Respecting closures and staying behind the fence
• Reflections on returning when flows increase
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Alright, this is Craig the Natural Medic and I am doing my last activity for the day here, doing the Mossy Cave hike at Rice Canyon National Park. It says it's 0.4 miles. A gentleman just came off the trail and told me they did it in about 20 minutes. There's a bunch of hoodoos here, just like there is in the other part of the park. The difference is this is a dreamside from a canal made in 1892 that was diverted from above. Sometimes there is a mossy area in the creek. There is a waterfall. Right now, let's see what we find on this trail. Follow me down Mossy Cave. Follow me down Mossy Cave to the end of the trail, and we'll come back. This trail, the Mossy Cave Trail, goes through a pinyon juniper forest, which generally is characterized by a lower level forest. There is some ponderosa in this forest as well, which are kind of in a transition zone where you have juniper and pinion for the most part down here, at a lower elevation from the main part of Bryce. So definitely observe that as we go through here. Alright. So this actually is an irrigation canal. Water was diverted here in 1892 for the town of Tropic. Interesting name for a town in Utah. There is still some water flowing through, as you can see, but natural springs provide the water, and different plants grow because of the diversion of water, as you see here. Pretty neat. I hike the hoodoos. So you gotta find three of those or hike three miles in the park to get a special reward. I think it's designed for junior rangers, but I'm gonna try to do it myself and see if I can do it. The trail splits here, a natural spring seeps from the rocky cliff, watering plants, and to the right there's a ditch with an irrigation canal dug by Mormon pioneers in the late 1800s. So let's see what we can see. Talking about the construction of the Tropic Ditch, in summary, Mormon pioneers got together 40 men, started digging with hand tools in 1889. They finally finished their work May 23rd, 1892, and created what is now known as the Tropic Ditch. You can kind of see where the water is flowing in this picture here. Let's take a look and see if we can see any water. Right around the corner from that sign, there's a little bit of water coming down here. It's pretty cool. Imagine during other times there's a lot more water coming down. I think they closed the canal in October, so I'm kind of at the tail end of it. Okay, this is what you call Tropic Falls. It's obviously not falling really right now. It's a little trickle of water. That's about it. Tail end of the irrigation season. I imagine at some point there is some water that comes over that ledge and becomes falls. So I have to come back when they're actually flowing water. Alright, this is Mossy Cave. Mossy Cave is on the other end of the where the trail splits. And as you can see, it's got some green moss in it. I guess that's where they got the name from. But just like other caves form, even much more of an overhang rather than rather than a true cave. You had slightly acidic groundwater seeping through the harder limestone, which is all this rock that's up here. And over time it dissolved the softer layers underneath to form the cave. When temperatures drop, the water freezes, and you have icicles that can last till summertime. They don't want you to enter the cave, hence the fence here. So don't enter the cave to protect the area. This is the namesake of the trail itself. You can definitely see here, let me zoom in a little bit. There's a bridge going over the canal. The waterway, however you want to call it. I imagine sometimes that water gets pretty full in there. So that's why they have the bridge all the way across. I definitely would like to see that full of water, so I have to come back when they're flowing it. Okay, that was Mossy Cave Trail. It's supposed to take an hour, it took me about 32 minutes. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, thumbs up. Think about subscribing to the channel for more adventures. I'm sure it's much more impressive when the water is flowing. But I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments or questions, let me know. Talk to you later. See you on the trail. Bye.
