Elephant Hill Road in Canyonlands is no joke. It’s a high clearance 4X4 dirt/gravel/sand/sheer rock road that goes into the remote backcountry. We decided to mountain bike it so we could get out to the Colorado River/Green River Confluence Overlook. Please don’t attempt to ride this on a gravel bike. You will hate it and yourself. And the world.
Some of my off road 4X4 friends have probably jeeped this and honestly, that would scare the hell outta me! We got the required one day permit to mountain bike it and off we went. Right away from the trailhead the road pitches up ridiculously on rock slabs/stairs/ledges that impossibly juts upwards at a rate that left me nearly breathless. I was in my easiest gear and made it all the way but it was not easy.
The views are the highlight of this adventure. At the top of this initial hill we then picked our way down the back side on an even steeper technical drop before the ride evened out a bit. There are long stretches of sandier surfaces that cut through the canyon with towering walls surrounding you on all sides. It’s endless beauty and geological wonder.
We continued on out to the end of spur. Here, we ditched our bikes and hiked out to the overlook. It’s here that you can gaze 1,000 down on the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. It’s obvious which one is which…one’s green, one is brownish. After eating our sandwiches we started back.
There is a section of Elephant Road that is one way because it’s so narrow that there isn’t room for two vehicles to pass. We slowly pedaled back and then up and over the mornings hellacious beginning climb. This side involved some hiking but no big deal. It was very rewarding to cruise back into the parking lot having spent a day out in the backcountry and only seeing 2 jeeps.
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