Big Loop Trail: The Best Trail in Chiricahua National Monument!

If there is one trail that you must do when visiting this interesting National Monument, it is the Big Loop Trail. This trail takes you through most of the best destinations inside the monument such as Inspiration Point, Heart of Rocks, and the Grottoes. Big Loop Trail has everything from towering rock columns to balancing rocks that seem to define gravity and dramatic grottoes. That being said, the Big Loop Trail is not for beginners because it is long with a big drop in elevation. However, the views are definitely worth it. In fact, we would consider it the best trail in the park!

Note: Please make sure to respect this beautiful place and the surrounding areas. Always practice LEAVE NO TRACE. This means no loud music, no graffiti, no taking artifacts or fossilized items, and pack out what you pack in! Please help us protect this place for generations to come!

Stats

Where

Echo Canyon Loop Trailhead
32.012000, -109.315917

Parking

Decent sized, paved parking lot in front of the trailhead

Restroom

There are vault toilets at the trailhead

Fee

It is free to enter!

Distance

9.5 mile R.T. (+ a couple extra miles if you want to detour at Inspiration Point and Heart of Rocks)

Elevation Gain

1,791 ft

Level

Difficult

Time:

4.5 – 8 hours (It took us 8 hours because we did all the detours and took our time)

Pet-friendly

Dogs aren’t allowed on this trail

Ideal Time

We recommend starting this hike early in the morning. It is a long hike and you’ll need all the time you get.

Weather

Video

Getting to the Trailhead

Big Loop Trail starts and ends at Echo Canyon Trailhead. In fact, Echo Canyon Trail is part of the Big Loop. It is very easy to get here. All you need to do is follow Bonita Canyon Drive all the way near the end. There will be signs for the Echo Canyon parking lot. Bonita Canyon Drive is the only road inside Chiricahua National Monument so you won’t get lost.

The Adventure

Since Big Loop Trail is a loop, you can start in either direction. We wanted to check out Inspiration Point and Heart or Rocks first so we started clock-wise.

To Heart of Rocks Junction

The Big Loop Trail is composed of multiple trails and sections. Inspiration Point and Heart of Rocks are parts of this Big Loop Trail. In the previous blogs, we covered these sections extensively so here is a short summary to get you to the junction for Heart of Rocks before we continue on.

From the parking lot, walk a short distance before finding signs for the Ed Riggs Trail.
Follow the Ed Riggs Trail for 1 mile before it ends at a fork.
From here, follow signs for Mushroom Rock Trail
At about 1.2 miles, the Mushroom Rock Trail turns into Big Balanced Rock Trail. This is also the junction for the detour to Inspiration Point. The detour is 1-mile roundtrip.
About 1 mile along Big Balanced Rock Trail, you will come to the trail’s namesake, Big Balanced Rock. Just a short distance after this, you will reach the junction for the Heart of Rocks Loop Trail. This loop is 1 mile long and we highly recommend checking it out. It’s definitely worth it!

Sarah Deming Trail

At the junction for Heart of Rocks, we (after doing our Heart of Rocks Loop) followed the Sarah Deming Trail to continue on our Big Loop adventure. Most of the Sarah Deming Trail descends down to the bottom of the Rhyolite Canyon. It curves around some beautiful views of the towering pinnacles before dropping down to the wooded areas. Even so, you still can see the sea of hoodoos from across the canyon below. The trail can get rocky and slippery at times so make sure to wear good hiking shoes and watch your step.

Upper Rhyolite Canyon Trail

About 1.6 miles, we came to a junction. This is the end of the Sarah Deming Trail. From here, we went right to follow signs for Upper Rhyolite Canyon/Echo Canyon Trail. The Upper Rhyolite Canyon Trail continues to descend about ⅓ of the way to the bottom of the canyon, before heading back the hill. As we started our ascend, the views got better and better. The trail runs alongside tall rock walls and boulders. On the left side, there are expansive views of miles of hoodoos.

Echo Canyon Trail

After about 1.1 miles, we came upon the fork for Echo Canyon Trail. The Echo Canyon Trail is another favorite section of ours. It ran along some beautiful towering hoodoos. These hoodoos are a lot taller than the ones we saw earlier. At about 0.4 miles, we came upon Echo Park. This section is very beautiful. We kept being mesmerized by the impressive rock formations and giant hoodoos. At a certain point, the trail also goes between soaring rock walls. We felt like we were walking between some Indiana Jones-type hallways. It was quite interesting. This trail also winds around massive hoodoos and rock formations. It was hard not to stop and photos at every turn. The surrounding views were just breathtaking.

Echo Canyon Grottoes

The Echo Canyon Trail soon reached the Grottoes. It is an interesting hallway, cave-like made out of groupings of large boulders. It is a pretty cool place to see. From the Grottoes, it is 0.5 miles before reaching the parking lot. This 0.5 miles is also quite beautiful. Like the rest of the Echo Canyon Trail, this last half a mile is full of massive stone columns and unique hallways. We got back near sunset so the light was especially beautiful. The soft sunset light gave the green lichen on the hoodoos a golden glow. It was quite stunning.

If you love hoodoos we recommend checking Navajo Loops to Queens Garden in Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s beautiful! If you like rocks and desert landscapes, we recommend checking out our guide to Joshua Tree.

These are the gear that we personally use and find them helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.