Since we wanted to get back and have time to explore Joshua Tree town, we decided to do one more short hike today before leaving the park.  The Hidden Valley day use area is one of the places we had visited with the Arredondos in 2014 – we knew there was a nature trail in that vicinity, so we pulled into the very crowded parking lot to check it out, luckily finding an open spot near the picnic sites.  Of all the different trailheads we had started from so far, this was definitely the most crowded – lots of folks coming and going.  Hidden Valley is something of a natural wonder, virtually encircled by steep stacks of vertical rocks all the way round, open slightly at its northwest extreme via a narrow gorge – as such, its inner environs are an ideal cattle ranching locale, and it was a local rancher who literally blasted an entrance into the valley from the south in the late 19th century.  It is through this entrance that the trail runs northward from the parking area – we followed our fellow visitors somewhat like bovine livestock up a handful of gentle switchbacks and into the smallish but open valley maybe a half-mile square, choosing the western side of the inner loop trail at the initial fork.  Here, the trail meanders northward below some tall cliffs that form the west wall of the natural corral – there were some climbers on the upper portions of the tallest formation, and we paused to listen to their shouts as one belayed the other up a network of vertical cracks.  Shortly, we reached the northwest corner of the valley, turning first east then south to make our way back along the twisted path through several picturesque rock gardens to the valley entrance.  At just over a mile in length, this was an interesting and very pretty trail, although probably best experienced on an uncrowded midweek day.