Enjoy these two videos of us at Elephant Butte.

Elephant Butte is a fun and relatively short canyoneering experience.  The route features two rappels and lots of areas for general canyoneering fun such as bouldering, hiking on sandstone and hiking up cracks and crevices.

The trail begins at the Elephant Butte/Garden of Eden parking lot.

We followed a dirt trail south for about 1/4 mile until we came to the canyon entrance.  The only way we knew this was the right canyon was because my brother had done this canyon before – so it might be wise to use the GPS coordinates above to figure out which canyon is the correct entrance.

At the entrance of the canyon we were scurrying up and  down large boulders and eventually we came to where the canyon got extremely narrow and this is where all the rock crawling began.

Here is where the rock crawling will begin (about :21 of the video above).  Many of us required help from each other and since Canyoneering, in my opinion, is a team experience, just make sure you are helping each other out.

This is a cool photo I took looking back towards the outside of the canyon.

You manage this part to go directly above where you will come to a small grassy meadow area where there is a clear cut trail for a little ways until  you come to a steeply slanted rock face which you will need to climb up (0:52 in the video above).  We found a trickle of water coming down it.

Above this area you will come to where a sand dune is located (0:56 in the video above).  This area is shaped like a bowl.  Hike to the back of the bowl where you will see that the canyon splits – take the right fork and keep climbing up.  This area is steep and tricky at parts so make sure everyone is safe.

It got a little steep so we used a handline to help each other up (1:01 in the video above).

On the other side of this tricky area, there is a small 5 foot drop which you can stem down and then it opens up to another canyon where the first rappel is located.

First Rappel

(1:15 in the first video above)

The first rappel is about 45 feet and has four anchors already in place with some webbing.  Please make sure you test the anchors before you trust them.  And always make sure you bring your own anchors, webbing and other canyoneering gear before you embark on any canyoneering/climbing trip.

The first rappel was really cool! It offered an overlook to your next destination and it was on a very exposed ledge which is why we were all using slings and chain reactors so none of us trip and fall down.

We set up our own rope and by the time we were all down it was just about completely dark.

Once at the bottom of the rappel (1:42 in the video above), there is a steep down climb of about 20 feet or so.  If you are uncomfortable, just stay hooked into the rope and keep rappelling down.  In the video below, they rappelled off the opposite side making this rappel about 75 feet.

At the bottom you will need to make a U-Turn to head back up the adjacent canyon.  This is where you will basically climb to the top of Elephant Butte but not to the very tip top.  We hiked to just about the top ridge, found a cairn then cut back down the next canyon.

Second (last) Rappel

(about 2:05 in the first video above)

This rappel is about 50 feet give-or-take and features a free hang.  There are several anchors with lots of twisted webbing already in place.  We straightened some of the webbing out and used it.

This rappel is also exposed so we used our slings again to keep us safe until we were on the rope.  I apologize I do not have pictures of this last rappel in the light but I tried to capture it in the video.

Once all safe and sound at the bottom of the last rappel, we followed the canyon out until we were completely outside of it.  Then we followed a few vague trails back to the parking lot.

Here is my friend’s video (in the daylight).  It gives you an even better idea of what to expect from Elephant Butte: