Friday, November 25/2011

The Needles

Our destination for the day

The start out of the parking lot - is that really the trail!!

At the top of Elephant Hill

Going down!

Many vehicles too long to make the tight switchback

looks like an old Indian face

The squeezeplay

Right it is

More of  The Needles

dead tree standing

critter tracks

critter's home

different colored sandstone 

when the sun shines on them, these stair steps look silver

The other yellow jeep, we are headed back up Elephant hill

Nasty up hill climb - this is where the longer vehicles have to back up
Nice rocky shelf road!!

Heading down to parking lot

Way down there!

We made it!

Stop on the way home

Another great sunset

There was frost of the top of the jeep this morning when I looked out but the sun is shining and I am sure that it will be gone in no time.  It was quiet here last night despite the fact that there are several campers along this road.  John took a little drive down the road yesterday when we got here and said that we were lucky to get this spot and was surprised by the popularity of the area.
Our destination today is Elephant Hill. It was originally a cattle trail, forged to gain grazing access to the land behind the hill.  It got it's name because of the many rounded formations on the many sides of the hills and reminded the cattlemen of the tops of elephant's heads.
It is considered an extremely challenging  and difficult trail with a rating of 7 out of 10 for difficulty.  It takes an experienced, capable driver to ascend and descend the many steep rocky grades (which are often shelf roads as well).  The trail is short (only 7 miles long) but will take several hours to completed due to the degree of difficulty and roughness of the trail.
We set out towards the Canyonlands National Park (the trail lies within the park), stopped at the visitor centre to pay the $10.00 admission fee and headed towards the trailhead.  When I was in the centre, the clerk informed me that there were people "in the area" so I was glad to hear that we would not be alone on the trail.
Once at the trailhead, we immediately could see why the trail is considered extreme.  It started with a steep climb directly out of the parking lot along rocky terrain with several stair steps and along shelf road.  It wasn't long before I was out of the jeep under the guise of "shooting some video"!!  Brave is not a word one would use for me on these types of very intimidating trails.  John continued upwards conquering the huge rocks and holes as he went.  The jeep actually mastered the ascent (considered one of the most difficult of the trail) very well.
Once up on the top of the hill, it was advised that the driver get out and walk to the trail that descends the hill and consider if in fact once you make the descent, will you and your vehicle be able to make it back up the hill for this is considered the most difficult part of the trail.  This part includes a steeper, rockier trail with tight switchbacks where apparently one is only able the back down on,  as the corners are too tight to make,  thus requiring the driver to back down on the trail going down and back up the trail for the return trip over the hill.  I think I may have to call on the Four Powers for this one!!
John took a look at the descending trail and decide to continue.  Apparently the tow bill for recovering a broken  or stranded vehicle from this trail is in excess of $1500.00 dollars!!  Not bad, if you say it quick!!

With the decision made, we continued down and,  since John is not one to be told what to do (not even by a damn sign) he made the whole descent without having to back down the section of switchback that was signed.  Actually, the jeep was able to successfully make the corner so the backing down was not necessary. It pays to have a short wheelbase vehicle here! I got a lot of pics and some video of this section!!
Once off the hill, I got back into the jeep and we continued along the trail.  We travelled a lot of sandy trails in amongst incredible slickrock terrain and wildly colored sandstone formations heading towards our next challenging part of the trail.  According to the book, once you have traversed Elephant Hill (deemed the most treacherous and difficult) the rest of the trail, although still considered difficult in many places, is actually easier that the first part.  The remainder of the trail still required careful placement of the tires and driver skill to negotiate safely.
We soon found ourselves once again on a rather steep ascent over large patches of slick rock large loose rocks and past huge boulders.  We soon encountered the "Squeezeplay" where the trail took us through an extremely narrow gap in the rocks for about 100 yards.  There is no way around this so if your vehicle is too wide, the trail for you is over and you must turn around and return to the parking area after you climb back up the nightmare you just came down!!  "The jeep had no problem coming through this narrow gap and we continued on.
Along the trail there were a few spur trails that one could explore if one chooses however, we chose to remain on the loop and continued up and over several more steep hills until finally reaching a small canyon  with a sandy bottom and where the trail crossed a wash several times eventually hooking back up to the main trail and the eventual return back over Elephant Hill and the parking lot we started from.
We were met by a couple of hikers who had got turned around on the trail and wanted to know which way to go to get back to the parking lot so we pointed them in the right direction and continued on.  At this time, we noticed another jeep behind us who was also brave enough to try this rather extreme trail.
As we continued towards Elephant Hill, he fell in behind us and it looked like we were going to be making the ascent up to the top of the hill together.  This ascent is considered the most difficult part of the trail as it is steeper and rockier than the initial ascent at the start of the trail.  It is this section of the trail that one must consider when initially making the decision to continue along the trail after the first ascent out of the parking lot.  I needed to take some pics and some video and got out of the jeep!!
John started up the hill and only ran into a bit of difficulty when the sun was directly in his eyes and he couldn't see the trail.  He decided (as if he had a choice) to keep his foot on the gas and hopefully the sun would move and the trail became visible again.  He made it to the top (without having to back up the switchback) and agreed that this section was far more technical and required way more skill to safely negotiate this difficult climb.  As I was walking up this section, the guy in the other jeep passed me and I noticed that both his and his passengers eyes were as  big as saucers -  he looked terrified!!  He followed John's lead and chose not to back up the section of switchbacks either.
Once both of us were on top of the hill, he took the lead for the final descent down to the parking lot.  We had an audience (from the parking lot) coming down,  but we managed to make the final descent safely and once all four tires were back on level ground, I breathed a sigh of relief.  We had completed this hazardous, extreme 4X4 trail and survived!!  The jeep performed extremely well considering it has no lockers, no fuel injection and higher gears than what one would like to be lower for all those steep climbs.  "Old Yeller" did well!!
We stopped at the Wooden Shoe Arch on the way back to the bus and took a few pics.  As you can see from the pic, it really does look like a wooden shoe.
Once back at the bus, we picked up Hogan (no pets allowed on Elephant Hill) and went on a quest for fire wood.  Here in Utah, you are not allowed to pick up dead fall or cut trees so we went raiding abandoned campsites.  Hogan ran along beside the jeep and got his exercise for the day.
It was real windy tonight and not a good night for a campfire so we sat beside "campfire in a can", inside the trailer until it was time to cook supper.  We got in just in time to watch The Vanier Cup college football final and it was a wonderful game.  The underdogs won in overtime and I hope Sunday's Grey Cup game is as exciting.  All in all, it was a good day.