Elephant Hill on small dual sport motorcycles!! - Moab 2017

Описание: Day 9- After a crazy wind/dust storm throughout the evening and well into the night, Sunday morning brought a new calm and sunny day to the Moab area. Sidekick Chad (XT225) and I (TW200) were the last ones left in North Camp. Because of the storm, we had most everything packed up already, so we got an early start. Heading south on 191, we turned west onto 211, and we went into Canyonlands Needles District. We unloaded and jumped on the bikes and buzzed down to the start of Elephant Hill 4x4 road. I was nervous about this ride because watching videos of others riding this in groups, there were always a few that had problems even in the earlier climbs. This does require permits now like the White Rim, and we procured them online easily.

Other than being bouncy (sorry, I did the best I could to try to smooth it out in editing, as this was filmed on a Go Pro Hero 2), those initial climbs were no problem. I wasn't prepared for how steep the slopes were and how big the rocks and steps were going down the backside of the hill. Realize the action camera flattens everything out. Sloped are steeper than they appear. When I laid the bike down I just couldn't see the bottom of that last step to the left. It was a big drop! I slowed to assess my line, then stopped, but when I went to put my foot down all I caught was air, so down we went. That same hill was pretty difficult to get back up as well. I was shocked that I didn't loop the bike going back up that.

Also, nobody else's videos that I watched showed all of those extra rocky climbs! It's another long one, but I tried to show what it was actually like to ride this. I left in all of the difficult parts, the best scenery, and the drops. Riding through that grassy valley after conquering those rocky hills was so amazing. It was like floating on a cloud after riding a jackhammer. Clearly this area is spectacular! Despite being a bit more technical and difficult than I thought it would be, it is now my favorite ride of all time after successfully completing it. It was the most difficult that we did on this year's trip.

We thought of staying right there at the Outpost, but we had tamed Elephant Hill in a few hours and decided we had the daylight to move on again instead of camping there that night and traveling in the morning. We went back out to 191, south, then W-NW on 95 from Blanding to Hite. We boon-docked near the start of the Orange Cliffs Road, which would be the next day's ride.

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0:00 Climbing up and over Elephant Hill
5:21 Additional challenges
10:12 Devil's Kitchen Campground
12:22 Through the valley
13:14 Amazing scenery and structures
16:03 Bobby Jo Campground
16:44 Heading back
18:50 Returning over Elephant Hill