Ride along on the epic Elephant Hill adventure

[ColoradoMike]

Elephant Hill is a major undertaking and an epic, beautiful adventure. (And a SOLID test of Jeep and driver) I made a movie to capture the experience. It's not short. But a short movie would not do this justice.

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[Mudduck]

Awesome video!

 

[ColoradoMike]

Awesome video!

Thank you, sir!

 

[jadmt]

one of my favorite trails. first time i thought SOB coming back was going to be tough but it was much easier going up it.

 

[ColoradoMike]

one of my favorite trails. first time i thought SOB coming back was going to be tough but it was much easier going up it.

Interesting! I had a pretty smooth descent of SOB but struggled much more on the way back up. Line choice is, as always, everything. I'm sure my life choices were less good on the way up. For whatever reason.

 

[Murphydog]

Thanks for posting this - and agree it is an amazing experience. Regrettably my family was a bit hiked out so I didn't get to see the Joint Trail - I did do the short walk to the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers.

Did you have to dip into your gas cans?

Not sure if you recall it, but on leg out to the confluence there is a larger boulder across that the trail crosses over, that is where I got my self high centered....No problem with SOB hill, but poor driving rewarded me with about 45 minutes of jack work to get the rear wheel high enough to stack some rocks and get out of there.

We didn't see another person the entire day.

 

[jadmt]

The last time we did not see another vehicle and saw one hiker at the "Joint" he was coming down as we were parking to go hike to the Joint and I asked if wanted some water and he did. I gave him a couple bottles of water and told him we would give him a ride if he wanted and he declined.. I asked him where he came from and he said he was not sure. I told him if he stuck to the trail we would give him a ride if he changed his mind. the next time we saw him was in the parking lot of the visitor center as we were coming down we saw him walk across the parking lot.

 

[ColoradoMike]

O

Thanks for posting this - and agree it is an amazing experience. Regrettably my family was a bit hiked out so I didn't get to see the Joint Trail - I did do the short walk to the confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers.

Did you have to dip into your gas cans?

Not sure if you recall it, but on leg out to the confluence there is a larger boulder across that the trail crosses over, that is where I got my self high centered....No problem with SOB hill, but poor driving rewarded me with about 45 minutes of jack work to get the rear wheel high enough to stack some rocks and get out of there.

We didn't see another person the entire day.

ooh, I'm jealous that you didn't see another person all day. I saw perhaps five vehicles and better than a dozen people--but thankfully, I had the special hike all to myself.
I poured my gas cans into the tank at the trailhead at the end of the day, for the drive back to Moab -- about 4 gallons. I would have made it back to Moab without, but I would have been down to 1/8 of a tank.
I remembered that you got stuck; I assumed it was at SOB! :D

 

[Murphydog]

Highway 211 had washed out the week before we visited so we had to detour through Monticello. Was able to gas up there after exiting.
It was surreal to have the place to ourselves.
I haven’t run poison spider, did you think elephant hill is harder than it?

 

[jadmt]

Highway 211 had washed out the week before we visited so we had to detour through Monticello. Was able to gas up there after exiting.
It was surreal to have the place to ourselves.
I haven’t run poison spider, did you think elephant hill is harder than it?

to me they are about equal. Poison spider has the water fall but it is not bad. I have done Poison spider too many times tho . for some reason we always end up doing it and ever time I say not next time lol.

 

[SadRobot]

Looks like an awesome trip! I hope to get out to Moab again this year and maybe get to do Elephant Hill.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Highway 211 had washed out the week before we visited so we had to detour through Monticello. Was able to gas up there after exiting.
It was surreal to have the place to ourselves.
I haven’t run poison spider, did you think elephant hill is harder than it?

It's tough to say... I feel like Elephant Hill is MAYBE A SMIDGE harder than Poison Spider. If nothing else, Poison Spider feels easier because it's closer to town, shorter trail, etc.... even if the driving is the same level of difficulty, it's an easier day.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Looks like an awesome trip! I hope to get out to Moab again this year and maybe get to do Elephant Hill.

I had already done Metal Masher, Steel Bender, Hells Revenge, Fins, Top of the World, and Flat Iron Mesa before doing Elephant Hill... and in some ways, Elephant Hill is better than all of those. It really is a special experience, very worth doing.

 

[ColoradoMike]

to me they are about equal. Poison spider has the water fall but it is not bad. I have done Poison spider too many times tho . for some reason we always end up doing it and ever time I say not next time lol.

It's beautiful and has a bit of everything and is not too long of a day, so yeah... Poison Spider is hard to pass up. I have done it three times. But I am really glad I did two new trails this time around and did not repeat Poison Spider. (Probably will do it next time, though!)

 

[jbcrane]

Great stuff Mike. Elephant Hill is on my bucket list this year too. SOB Hill looks intimidating if in 4-low with those tight turns. I imagine you'll need to be out of 4-low to maneuver... Can't wait to get on that trail. Thanks for the inspiration.

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