The Big Loop is a 13.2 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Willcox, Arizona that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October.
This trail traverses multiple connecting trails in the Chiricahua NM. Start at the Echo Canyon trailhead, connect to Echo Canyon, Upper Rhyolite Canyon, Sarah Deming, Heart of Rocks Loop, Big Balanced Rock, Inspiration Point, Mushroom Rock, and Ed Riggs trails.
April 17, 2021Amazing place. Must hike. well defined trail. As others said, shorter than AllTrails says. We did both out and backs, started from Masai and still only 10 miles.
April 10, 2021Beautiful trail! So much to see. Trail was really maintained.
April 9, 2021Awesome!
April 9, 2021Incredible hike! I was only about 9 miles on my GPS. Took us a little over 4 hours
April 6, 2021This is an amazingly beautiful hike! Note that it is 9.5 miles, as confirmed by the National Monument website and materials, not 13.5 as listed. Plan on spending lots of time taking pictures, or just staring in awe and wonder.
March 27, 2021Fantastic hike. Did the loop recommended by the ranger which hits all the keys sites in about 10 miles. Easy ground to walk on, rocks and clear path. Stunning views.
March 22, 2021Lots of up and downs! Super windy.
March 21, 2021Completely unprepared for how beautiful this area is. There isn’t just one area of highlights, the entire 10 miles is a highlight. We encountered very few people for most of the route until we looped around and got near Inspiration. Beauty, solitude, great infrastructure.
March 21, 2021Amazing, powerful place. If you’re sensitive to energies you will feel it here! The views are gorgeous and the grottos provide a lot of natural A/C to cool you down in the hot weather. Took kids 6,6 & 10 with us.
March 18, 2021March 16, 2021One of the coolest spots I've ever hiked - period. If somebody blindfolded you and dropped you off and the first thing you saw were the hoodoos, you might think you had somehow ended up on another planet. "Otherworldly" is absolutely an accurate description. Keep in mind that you're at a pretty good elevation here - we had bright warm sunshine and snow within the space of an hour and a half, so come prepared.
March 13, 2021Great trail. Very scenic and well maintained. Definitely worth doing the whole big loop
March 12, 2021Beautiful trail!
March 11, 2021Amazing Incredible!!
March 11, 2021Fantastic loop trail! We loved it. Started at the Massai parking lot and added the Inspiration point extension so recorded an even 9.9 miles in about 5 hours. Trek poles optional; I used mine but my wife was fine not using hers. We didn’t feel that any part of it was necessarily “strenuous” - more like a solidly steady “moderate”. Doing the loop is a great way to experience Chiricahua - we would go long stretches of time without seeing anybody at all. Heart of the Rocks is fantastic and cannot be missed. Great hike for seeing something different at almost every turn!
March 9, 2021Lovely. Super cool
March 7, 2021Absolutely stunning views and a good moderate hike.
March 6, 2021March 3, 2021March 3, 2021March 2, 2021Very scenic, highly recommend
March 2, 2021Definitely a challenge but definitely worth the big loop! So many cool rock formations. I skipped the little loop halfway through and it came out to 7.5miles in 4 and 1/2 hours
March 1, 2021Most underrated hike in AZ. Unlike any other place I have ever seen before. Highly recommend it
February 28, 2021This was a fantastic hike. The rock formations are gravity defying. Unlike anything i have seen. The trail was terrific - easy to follow and very well maintained. It took us about 5.5 hours to complete the loop, including the Inspiration Point spur.
February 26, 2021If Mars was a hike, this is it!! Amazing views.
February 26, 2021Beautiful views at every turn. Highly recommend!!
February 26, 2021Excellent, with wonderful views. The trail was well-marked. This is one of the best trails I've hiked. Recommend getting an early start since it was getting pretty busy near the starting/ending points by early afternoon. Otherwise, it was not crowded.
February 25, 2021The Echo Canyon Trail to Hailstone Trail to the Ed Riggs Trail is great done in that direction because the descent is steeper at the beginning and climbing back out of the canyon on the Ed Riggs Trail is more gradual back to the top. Awesome sights, breath taking scenery & photo ops galore. Well marked but there are bunny trails going off so keep your sense of direction.
February 23, 2021Spectacular views at every turn! This is our favorite trail next to Peralta trail to Weaver's needle for the unique rock formation & hooboo rocks. We did the +9 miles loop going counter clockwise, which I recommend for the easy climb at the end. Trail is well maintained and easy to follow. Climb to the Heart of Rock is steady incline and once we got there, it was a lot of fun exploring the rock maze. Bring plenty of water & snacks/lunch. It took us 5 hours to complete with breaks & taking many photos.
