surgeryturtle
RedRoxx
- Location
- Draper/Moab
A group from the We Be Jeepin' & Moab Friends for Wheelin' took a Friday trip down to Elephant Hill. Yes, I've seen all the comments about the tourist and the Commander. We didn't see him or his "rig".
Elephant Hill is a beautiful 4×4 road located in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. It’s a long drive to the trailhead though so a bathroom break was taken at Newspaper Rock. This is an area where thousands of petroglyphs were inscribed into the cliffside over hundreds of years. It’s fascinating to guess what these symbols meant and what they were trying to communicate.
Next, we were off to the trailhead. We had to wait for a few minutes as a truck was coming down Elephant Hill, then up we went. The climb up Elephant hill is a lot of fun, narrow switchbacks requiring that the vehicle pulls forward and turns around for the next switchback or in one spot, you have to actually back down the trail.
Once you are over the hill (so to speak as most of us already are), its a beautiful drive combining sandy trail and some rocky slickrock sections. This trail is not very challenging, nary a locker needed but its very scenic and enjoyable.
There is one pretty narrow spot just before you reach an area called Devil’s Kitchen. No one had any problems here though.
Then we made our way to the Joint Trail trailhead where we parked the Jeeps and took a hike that was about 1.5 miles round trip.
Climbing up into the “Joint”.
Exploring some of the trail. Some of these cracks are so narrow that sunlight doesn’t reach all the way down.
Some of the side-cracks are so narrow they require turning sideways. Not a place to be if you’re claustriphobic!
Where are we again? Oh yeah, back to the Joint trail. But, let’s check our the View point first…..it’s only 500 feet away.
Wow! Pretty nice scenery of the Needles. Can anyone pick out Ber down in the canyon below?
Next, we made our way back to the Jeeps and after lunch we drove over to the Confluence Overlook trail which is about 1 mile hiking round trip. The confluence is where the Green and Colorado rivers come together to form…….well, the Colorado. Sorry Green, its the end of the line for you. This is also the divider for the 3 districts of Canyonlands. We are on the Needles side, straight across is Island in the Sky, and over to our left is the Maze. No bridges here so we’ll have to stay in the Needles.
We made our way back to Elephant Hill and went up and over back down to civilization. Of course, there had to be a break down, what would wheeling be without one?
Melanie nearly lost her license plate! After some extensive trail repairs, she was good to go. Apparently she had some screws ”loose” and a couple got lost during her trip. Don’t forget to replace those other screws.
Very fun but long wheeling day. We got back to Moab about 7:00pm.
Elephant Hill is a beautiful 4×4 road located in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. It’s a long drive to the trailhead though so a bathroom break was taken at Newspaper Rock. This is an area where thousands of petroglyphs were inscribed into the cliffside over hundreds of years. It’s fascinating to guess what these symbols meant and what they were trying to communicate.
Next, we were off to the trailhead. We had to wait for a few minutes as a truck was coming down Elephant Hill, then up we went. The climb up Elephant hill is a lot of fun, narrow switchbacks requiring that the vehicle pulls forward and turns around for the next switchback or in one spot, you have to actually back down the trail.
Once you are over the hill (so to speak as most of us already are), its a beautiful drive combining sandy trail and some rocky slickrock sections. This trail is not very challenging, nary a locker needed but its very scenic and enjoyable.
There is one pretty narrow spot just before you reach an area called Devil’s Kitchen. No one had any problems here though.
Then we made our way to the Joint Trail trailhead where we parked the Jeeps and took a hike that was about 1.5 miles round trip.
Climbing up into the “Joint”.
Exploring some of the trail. Some of these cracks are so narrow that sunlight doesn’t reach all the way down.
Some of the side-cracks are so narrow they require turning sideways. Not a place to be if you’re claustriphobic!
Where are we again? Oh yeah, back to the Joint trail. But, let’s check our the View point first…..it’s only 500 feet away.
Wow! Pretty nice scenery of the Needles. Can anyone pick out Ber down in the canyon below?
Next, we made our way back to the Jeeps and after lunch we drove over to the Confluence Overlook trail which is about 1 mile hiking round trip. The confluence is where the Green and Colorado rivers come together to form…….well, the Colorado. Sorry Green, its the end of the line for you. This is also the divider for the 3 districts of Canyonlands. We are on the Needles side, straight across is Island in the Sky, and over to our left is the Maze. No bridges here so we’ll have to stay in the Needles.
We made our way back to Elephant Hill and went up and over back down to civilization. Of course, there had to be a break down, what would wheeling be without one?
Melanie nearly lost her license plate! After some extensive trail repairs, she was good to go. Apparently she had some screws ”loose” and a couple got lost during her trip. Don’t forget to replace those other screws.
Very fun but long wheeling day. We got back to Moab about 7:00pm.
