March 26, 2007

By Tim Briese

When we arose in the morning we were treated to a beautiful canyonlands sunrise at our camp at the Squaw Flat Campground in Canyonlands National Park. After breakfast we left our campsite and headed southwest on the trail toward Big Spring Canyon. The trail soon traversed up onto a slickrock bench and through a sandstone alcove before descending slightly into Big Spring Canyon. The Needles jutted into the sky a few miles to the southwest. We had never done this hike before so we were eager to explore new territory. This canyon turned out to be broader and less rugged and rocky than Elephant Canyon, which we had been in the day before. It was also a bit more lush and flowery than Elephant, at least at this time of year, and even had a tiny stream flowing down its sandy bottom, perhaps resulting from rains earlier in the week.

We clipped rapidly along on the gentle trail up the canyon. In spite of our fast pace, though, we were overtaken by a family from Virginia who were backpacking to Chesler Park. The mother, father, and two teenage sons were among the fastest backpackers I have ever seen. We enjoyed some brilliant flowers in moist places along the trail as we proceeded.

At the upper end of the canyon the trail proceeded to climb vigorously up slickrock slopes to a pass that separated Big Spring from Squaw Canyon. We carefully made our way across a high sloping section of rock just before reaching the crest. The park trail description warned that this section is dangerous when the rock is wet or icy, and we could see why. Just on the other side of the pass we found a wonderful spot to sit on the pleasant smooth rock and enjoy outstanding panoramic views, with the rugged upper reaches of Squaw Canyon directly below us and the stately snowcapped La Sal mountains in the distance on the horizon.

After sitting in the morning sunshine and thoroughly enjoying this fine vantage point for well over half an hour we took our leave and descended on the trail into Squaw Canyon. Soon we came to a junction where the Virginians had gone to the right into the rocky wilderness toward Chesler Park, while we turned to the left to drop into the canyon. The gradual descending traverse along slickrock benches on the north side of the canyon was quite a bit of fun, but when we reached the sandy bottom of the canyon the hike became more routine in nature. The further down the canyon we went the less rugged and scenic it became. There was a little creek flowing down the canyon bottom, with intermittent large pools along the way, which made for a couple of interesting stream crossings. The trail eventually left what remained of the canyon and turned to the north to take us on a loop back to the campground. The closer we got to the trailhead the more hikers we saw, mostly of the casual variety who were out for a short dayhike. The clear blue sky allowed the midday sun to beat down on us now, making it feel quite warm, even though the temperature was probably no more than about 70 degrees. We arrived back at the trailhead around noon, after covering about seven and a half miles on this four hour hike. We sat on the shaded tailgate of the truck and enjoyed lunch before driving back to Moab that afternoon.

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