If Stony Man takes you to see the sky, Dark Hollow will take you back to the lush groundwaters. Another relatively short and easy hike, Dark Hollow Falls Trail is 1.4 miles with 564 feet of gain. It brings you down into a verdant valley and features several small falls as it follows along a small mountain creek.
I enjoyed spending time on the creek. I love listening to the babbling of the water over the rocks, bathing in the dappled sunlight through the leaves.
I found this cute little caterpillar trapped on a rock in the middle of the stream. It must’ve fallen from the canopy above, so I relocated it to the underbrush.
There are several unnamed falls along the way, and they are much less crowded than the destination falls. They make a beautiful place to take a break from the elevation of the trail, and also a secluded place to hang out away from the busy foot traffic.
We found this trail to be fairly crowded, passing numerous small groups on both the trip out and back, and of course a multitude of people milling around the falls. If you are hoping to snag some photos of the falls that do not feature crowds of people, you will want to visit during off peak hours, or be very patient – perhaps even taking multiple shots to composite later (as I did).
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