The hollow Highland
The piece of road that named a celebration
Mitchell Hollow, and the hill that made cars fly.
A fold in the ground crossed by 10400 North at about 6500 West, paved in 1947, driven at deliberately for the fifteen years after that, and known by half a dozen nicknames of which one became the name of the city's annual celebration. The road story from the city's own account, the park that sits in the same hollow, and Highland's second door onto the paved bench corridor.
Southern Utah is my home turf. Highland is not, so these pages are researched rather than lived: checked against city, county and venue sources, and dated so you can see how fresh they are. For the on-the-ground work here I lean on a Utah County partner agent.
Start here
A hollow, a road across it, and a park that arrived much later.
Mitchell Hollow is a fold in the ground on the western side of Highland, and 10400 North crosses it at about 6500 West on a culvert. That is the whole of the geography and it is the reason this small piece of the city carries a name that everybody in Highland recognises. The park that shares the name sits a little south, at 6400 West 10250 North.
For most of the time there was a road here it was gravel and the traffic was horse drawn, and the abrupt drop and rise across the hollow was simply the shape of the land. The road was paved in 1947. Speeds went up, and a piece of ground that had been a mild inconvenience became something people drove out to on purpose.
What the hollow gave the city, eventually, was a name. The nicknames people attached to that hill included the thrill hill, the Highland dip, the Highland bump, Highland Whoopee and Whoopee Hill, and one more that the city later borrowed for its annual celebration. The park at the bottom of the same hollow is where anybody looking for the story should start.
The hollow in numbers
1947
the year the road across it was paved
6
nicknames the hill collected, one of which stuck
7am to 9pm
daily park hours
2 of 2
Highland trailheads on the paved bench corridor
The hill
Eastbound cars left the ground. Westbound drivers could not see over it.
Highland City publishes its own account of this, filed under the heading of the town's famous feature, and it is worth reading because it is written by somebody who lived beside it. The road at 10400 North passes over a culvert where it crosses Mitchell Hollow, and the transition from the hollow to the flat ground on either side is abrupt rather than graded.
In the era of gravel and horses that was no problem at all. Pavement came in 1947, cars got quicker, and the shape of the road turned into a piece of local entertainment. Driven eastbound at speed the crest threw a car into the air. Driven westbound it hid whatever was on the far side, which is the part that should have worried people more than it did.
The city's account describes considerable activity there between 1948 and 1963, with cars making repeated runs at it at speeds reported around sixty miles an hour and one claim of eighty five, and records that across those fifteen years the writer knew of no serious crash or injury on the hill. That is luck rather than design, and it is also why the hill is remembered fondly rather than grimly.
The nicknames tell you how widely it was known. Thrill hill. The Highland dip. The Highland bump. Highland Whoopee, and Whoopee Hill. And the Highland Fling, which is the one the city eventually took for its celebration at the end of July. The road today is an ordinary suburban street and the fold in the ground is still perfectly visible from it, which is the whole point of driving out here.
A bump in a country road, paved in 1947, ended up naming the biggest weekend in the city's calendar.
The park today
What the city lists here, which is not what the directories list.
Mitchell Hollow Park is a neighbourhood park rather than a destination, and its facilities are worth stating carefully because third party directories describe a longer menu than the city does. What follows is what Highland City itself publishes and books.
| What | What the city publishes | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| The pavilion | A covered pavilion reserved through the city's own system, with the reservation covering the pavilion only | Twenty dollars for a half day and forty for a full day for residents, seventy and a hundred otherwise |
| The ball diamond | A separately bookable baseball field, open Monday to Saturday and closed on Sunday, with at least seven days notice required | Twenty dollars an hour for practice, thirty five for a game or a clinic, three hundred for a day |
| The playground | Listed on the city's own facility page for this park | Nothing |
| Restrooms | On site | Nothing |
| The paved loop and open field | A walking loop and open grass, used by the surrounding streets daily | Nothing |
| Water | The spigot here has been posted as unavailable for public use on water pressure safety grounds | Not applicable; bring your own |
Facilities and rates as published by Highland City and its reservation system, checked 14 August 2026. Directory and review sites list additional facilities at this park that the city's own pages do not, so the city is the source to believe. Pavilion and field rates split between residents and non-residents, are set annually, and field bookings also carry a share of portable toilet servicing costs among the organisations using it.
There is no public tap at this park, and nothing at the gate says so. Highland City carries a standing note that the spigot at Mitchell Hollow is unavailable for public use because of water pressure safety concerns. That is easy to miss when you are booking a pavilion for an afternoon in July, and a covered pavilion with restrooms reads like a site with running water available to it. Bring what you need to drink, and if you are booking the ball diamond, note separately that the city apportions portable toilet servicing among the organisations renting the field rather than providing it as part of the hourly rate.
The second door
Highland has two trailheads on the same corridor, and this is the west one.
The paved county corridor across the bench is reached from this park, with the trailhead itself listed at 6450 West 10400 North, a little north of the park address. It carries parking, restrooms and lighting like the other built trailheads on the route, and from it the surface runs flat in both directions along the bench.
The interesting part is what it makes possible. Highland Glen Park, at the eastern end of the city, is the other door onto the same corridor, about two and a half miles away. Nobody else on the route has two. Park at one, ride to the other, and you get an out and back with a car park, a restroom and something worth stopping for at each end, which solves the problem that makes most flat rail style trails monotonous.
From the same corridor, west and north of here, the singletrack in the Dry Creek gulch drops off the rim below a flood control dam, which is the other reason to arrive at this end of the trail with a bicycle rather than a pushchair. The ranked list carries the approach to it.
Everything about the corridor itself belongs to the seven cities it crosses rather than to this one. Its full length, the enclosed aqueduct buried beneath the asphalt, its underpasses, its junctions at either end and the rules for riding it are on the Murdock Canal Trail page.
The other door
Highland Glen Park
The eastern trailhead, about two and a half miles away, with a stocked pond and a sand beach attached to it.
Read the pageThe corridor
The Murdock Canal Trail
Seventeen paved miles across seven cities, laid over an enclosed aqueduct, written once at valley level.
Read the guideWhere it ranks
Sixth on the list
The ranked nine puts this park in the middle, and the entry explains what the story is worth against the facilities.
The ranked listWhere this sits
The middle of the city, and the middle of the companion.
Nothing in Highland is far from the hollow, which is why this works as a stop rather than a destination. What follows is where to go next.
The weekend it named
The Highland Fling
Three days at Heritage Park at the end of July, with a state hammer title thrown free on the grass.
Read the pageMoving here
A town of acre lots
The settlement pattern behind the spacing, what the code requires of a lot, and the date the district name changes.
Read the pageThe companion
Highland, in full
The pond, the course, the three days in July, the hollow and the code, gathered in one place.
Read the pageKeep reading
More of Highland on The Local.
Things to do
The top 9, ranked
Nine entries on 8.64 square miles, each with its own hours and its own gate.
Read the guideThe pond
Highland Glen Park
A stocked community water, a sand beach with no lifeguard, and a state results page.
Read the guideEighteen holes
Beacon Hill Park
Eighteen holes, two tees per basket, a nine hole putting green, and no charge at all.
Read the guideThree days in high summer
The Highland Fling
Three days, a caber toss, a state hammer title, and a road dip that named the lot.
Read the guideMoving here
A town of acre lots
Why the parcels here are large, written from the homestead map and the current code.
Read the guideThe companion
Highland, in full
The pond, the disc golf hill, the three days in July, the hollow and the code behind the lots.
Read the pageQuick answers
The hollow, answered.
Mitchell Hollow is a fold in the ground on the western side of Highland, crossed by 10400 North at about 6500 West on a culvert. Mitchell Hollow Park sits a little south of that crossing at 6400 West 10250 North, and the city's second trailhead onto the paved bench corridor is listed separately at 6450 West 10400 North. All three are within a few hundred yards of each other and the fold in the ground is visible from the road.
The hill where 10400 North crosses Mitchell Hollow at about 6500 West. The road runs over a culvert there and the transition from the hollow to the flat ground either side is abrupt rather than graded. While the road was gravel and the traffic was horse drawn that was no problem. The road was paved in 1947, speeds rose, and drivers began taking it deliberately: eastbound the crest threw a car into the air, and westbound it hid whatever was on the far side.
Because that was one of the nicknames for the hill at 10400 North. The city's own account records the spot being variously known as the thrill hill, the Highland dip, the Highland bump, Highland Whoopee, Whoopee Hill and the Highland Fling. When Highland wanted a name for its annual celebration, the last of those was already in local use and it doubled neatly as the name of a Scottish dance, which suited a town whose own name is traditionally credited to Scottish settlers.
Highland City publishes a covered reservable pavilion, a playground, restrooms, a bookable baseball field, a paved loop and open field, with parking on site and the city's second corridor trailhead a short distance north. Third party directory and review sites list additional facilities that the city's own pages do not, so the city is the source to believe. Park hours are seven in the morning to nine at night daily, and the ball diamond runs Monday to Saturday within those hours.
Not from a public tap. Highland City carries a standing note that the spigot at this park is unavailable for public use because of water pressure safety concerns, which is easy to miss when booking a pavilion for a summer afternoon. Restrooms are on site, but bring drinking water rather than assume a tap. If you are renting the ball diamond, note separately that the city apportions portable toilet servicing costs among the organisations using the field rather than including it in the hourly rate.
As published by Highland City and checked in August 2026, twenty dollars for a half day and forty dollars for a full day for residents, and seventy and a hundred dollars respectively for non-residents. Half days run from eight until two or from three until nine, and a full day runs from eight until nine. The reservation covers the pavilion only, so the rest of the park stays open to everybody while it is booked, and all bookings sit under the city's noise ordinance quiet hours from ten at night.
Yes, through Highland City's own reservation system, and it is priced by the hour rather than by the day: twenty dollars an hour for practices, thirty five an hour for games, competitions or clinics, and three hundred dollars for a day rental. Requests must be submitted at least seven days in advance and submitting one does not guarantee approval. The field is available Monday to Saturday from seven in the morning to nine at night and is closed on Sunday.
Yes, and it is one of two in Highland, which no other city on the route has. The trailhead is listed at 6450 West 10400 North with parking, restrooms and lighting, and the other is at Highland Glen Park about two and a half miles east. That pairing lets you ride between two proper trailheads inside one city. The corridor itself, its length, the enclosed aqueduct beneath it, its underpasses and its rules, is shared by seven cities and is written once at valley level.
The ground itself, which is the honest answer. The road at 10400 North is an ordinary suburban street today and the fold it crosses is still perfectly obvious from the car, which is what most people come to look at once they know the story. Beyond that there is a neighbourhood park at 6400 West 10250 North and a trailhead onto seventeen paved miles of bench corridor. It is a twenty minute stop on a drive across the city rather than an afternoon in itself.
A fold in the ground, and the name it gave to everything else.
A visit here takes twenty minutes. An address on this side of Highland asks more: which of the three residential zones the parcel sits in, what the paved corridor running past the end of the street is worth to you, how the outdoor irrigation service works on a large lot out here, and what the western half of the city looks like once the Town Center work north of it is finished. Tell me what you are weighing and I will put you with a Utah County partner agent who works this bench, and stay on the file for the financing side.
Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.