18 April 2021 Squaw Canyon to Big Spring Canyon Loop

 We researched the Needles area of Canyonlands NP and decided on at least one long hike into the canyons. We choose the Squaw Canyon to Big Spring Canyon loop trail. The national park service maps showed it as a 6.6 mile hike, but reviews on All Trails indicated it was over 8 miles. There were also interesting comments about the climb from one canyon to the other. We started out from the Canyonlands Campground A parking area and followed several reviewers the said to take it clockwise. So we headed out the Squaw Canyon stretch of the loop. The views were incredible and the rock formations stunning. As we approached the end of the canyon, we began to climb up onto the higher rock layers. We stopped and had Lunch under a gnarly tree to rest up for the climb. As we progressed, we came to a huge rock shelf. As we followed the cairns across the rock, we came to a large and very deep crevice. There was no bridge, no way to get around it, there was no choice but to leap across. A leap of faith! But we made it across, a little more confident in our hiking abilities. Eventually we came to a point where we could see the pass we had to climb through to get to Big Spring Canyon. We had to cross a very large, steeply angled, sheet of red sandstone that ended with a 200 foot cliff. We were very happy to have our walking sticks to act as a third point of contact. Fortunately the traction was good as we side stepped up the sheet of rock, trying not to think about what would happen if we fell and started rolling. When we got to the top, we stopped for a snack and a rest before we started down into Big Spring Canyon. The hike down into Big Spring was VERY steep across slickrock and red rock. We had to sit down and scoot down portions because it was too steep to walk down confidently. Leslie spent a lot of butt-time on those transitions down into the canyon. We worked our way through Big Spring Canyon with beautiful rock formations. When we finally came to the last half mile, we found we had to climb over and down another steep stretch of slickrock. By the time we got back to the parking area, we were tired but very happy with the challenging and beautiful hike (8.2 miles, 1446Ft of elevation gain, 4,230 calories burned).