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| Hiking | 11.70 Miles |
600 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.70 Miles | | | |
| 600 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | We began from the Squaw Flat trailhead instead of the Elephant Hill TH as we were driving an RV and couldn't make it to the official trailhead. NOTE: If your vehicle is over 20, you can't make it to the Elephant Hill TH and must start from here - it adds a few extra miles so plan accordingly. Unfortunately we could have used those extra minutes:/
Beginning at Elephant Hill TH the trail takes quick descent into the Big Spring area. The trailmaps only label the trails alphanumerically, but trailmarkers at trail confluences direct you towards your destination. As long as you know where you're going rather than the trail you're on you'll get there:)
After the second trail confluence, this hike starts to go for a ride. You'll traverse slick rock mounds and walk some considerable distance atop eroded limestone features. The trail is marked by cairns about every .1 mile in some places so it's easy to stay on track here. It's a marked change from the shrubby trailhead area, and with elevation views of the needles start to come into view.
After a bit of very martian like limestone hiking, you get over the first ridge and are rewarded with views into Elephant Canyon, which you'll soon descent into. The rock on this side is much redder and is reminiscent of a scramble down the side of Sedona slickrock at Cathedral Rock. This will take you partly down to the wash, but not all the way, as a little further along there are some rocks that must be passed.
Of course in typical epic west trail fashion, between two huge rock features is about a 2' walkway extending ~25 yards that must be crossed before the next section of trail. The surprises on this trail of different hiking styles just kept coming. At this point (maybe 3 miles in) we finally saw the first other hikers of the day. On a beautiful fall weekday I was wondering where all the drivers of those other RVs hiked off to.
It was around this point that we noticed the sun already starting to drift, and after a quick snack we tried to pick up the pace as much as we could. Our trailhead added about 3 miles to the trip, and we ran out of time. We hiked to the split of the joint trail and the Elephant Canyon section leading to Druid Arch, and reluctantly resigned ourselves to getting almost there. The last .75+ was all in a wash, and the final 2 were also going to be. We didn't have the time or maybe the energy also for another 5 miles in the wash. Fortunately, this was our last stop on our Big 5 trip - having just been in Arches that morning - and we'd gotten our fix of natural arches, so on we went back.
While it's an out and back, we couldn't take our eyes off the view coming home. Looking north from the trail are the escarpments that we'd been traversing; the rim of the Island in The Sky in the background; and finally the La Sals in the distance - still sans snow.
This remains a great hike mostly due to the different trail surfaces throughout but the views and terrain are national park worthy. And this is without even getting to the Arch:) |
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Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.
Evan Hardin
Footloose adventures are documented instagram @afrankie8. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. But once at the top, it's all downhill from there. But only if that easy.
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
