It wasn't long ago that I found out that there was a way to climb up Elephant Butte on the west end and when I found out I had a little time this weekend I decided to give it a go.
I parked at the Clay Flats, unloaded the Rhino and drove over Harris Mountain and came to Elephant Butte from the north. There's a short road leading partway up the west side, but there's still a steep climb ahead!
Once on top, the views are incredible. Here the view is toward the southeast. It was a hazy day, but you can barely make out the Kaibab.
And here we're looking toward the southwest and Cane Beds.
I zoomed in on this toadstool formation on the north side.
Northwest.
Elephant Cove. By now some of you may be wondering how Elephant Butte and Elephant Cove received their names. Shortly before the turn of the century an enterprising man brought in a couple of elephants to help harvest the thick stands of ponderosa pine on top of the butte and the adjacent Block Mesas. The experiment was a failure. Although the elephants were able to climb up, they couldn't or wouldn't come back down and since there's no water on top, they soon died of thirst.*
*The Real Trail (not a sidetrail this time!): Not really. Supposedly if you look at the butte from a certain angle it resembles an elephant's head and trunk. I've never seen it and I've look at it from all sides.
The sun's going down and I better start down too.
The trail down.
Maybe there's an elephant in there somewhere.
Elephant Butte
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