Ellis Jeep Trail, ElkHorn, Whiskey Park, Dunes

[Brody]

First of all, I need to say that these trails are almost a must do trail, especially the combination of Ellis, Elkhorn Mountain and Whiskey Park Road. Although Well's book rates both Elkhorn Mountain and Ellis Jeep Trails as difficult, we found no sections on this loop that would warrant this rating. Everything we did was moderate to easy and suitable for any rig, large or small. I don't know about Rob, but we ran the entire trail, with the exception of the two small mud sections in 2WD...and I am currently running an open rear axle. Neither one of us aired our tires down either and we were running our basic street tire pressure. This does not, to me, warrant a "difficult" rating in anyone's book and I would be tempted to rate the trail as 'casual' rather than 'easy' were it not for the remoteness. This was partially due to the time of the year that we ran them and the fact that the roads had been dry for quite awhile. Even early in the year or a little later in the Fall, I would tend to rate these as moderate. Big rigs like Roland's and Randy's would have only the slightest problems on a couple of turns that were a little tight.

There were just the two rigs on this trip, Rob in his FJ Land Cruiser and LaDawn and me in the black truck. We ran into Ken on the way back into town coming home from the dunes, too. The only other rigs we saw were a Willy's off of Elkhorn and some hunter/outfitters tents and rigs. We didn't see anyone else on the Ellis section of the trail.

The mud bogs were almost non existent, though I did manage to get the truck stuck on two different sections that I could have avoided. The section that has the largest mud bog now has an "intelligent" (though probably illegal" bypass) on the right side, which I will surely take the next time I do the trail...illegal or not. It just makes sense. I tried to do the "legal" section and buried the truck. The bog was very deep on the passenger side (I measured this later and found that it was a bit deeper than my 38" tires) and I stopped when I got very tippy on that side. Rob got to do a little Bill Moore payback and towed me out of this.

The country around Steamboat is beautiful, with huge aspen groves that you drive through. There are sections of the trail where ferns are on both sides of the trail and are as high as your windows. It looks as though you are in some tropical island forest sometimes. Camping is available pretty much everywhere you look, though the best camping seems to be off of the Elkhorn Mountain section, where we camped. The higher you go on this part, the bigger the aspens and the better the views.

We would have had some gorgeous views on this part of the trail had the weather not been overcast, but it was pretty all the same. Well's book was decent as far as directions go, especially as far as just getting on the right trail. Typical of his books, having a real map of the area was a big help as he never seems to make any notes concerning the numbered FS spur roads to use as reference. (This would have been very helpful as would have been small notes about things such as the first FS 499 dead ending at a trail head and maybe to take the second one as it is the correct one.) Oh well...anyone used to using his books is more than aware of the inconsistencies in them and takes these precautions as a matter of course...Traildamage filled in the blanks and provided critical information when you had to make a turn from FS 500 to FS 499 along the Continental Divide. FYI, it is the second FS 499 turn you want, not the first one. The first one dead ends at a hiking trail.

We started off on Ellis Jeep Trail, followed it to the end, turned and went along the back side of Hog Reservoir, picked up Whiskey Park Road to Elkhorn Mountain Road, followed Elkhorn to where it intersected with Whiskey Park Road down to where we started, a loop of around 55 miles, all on some really scenic backroads.

We also saw a great deal of wildlife, notably two large herds of antelope, one numbering over 20.

Since we were relatively close to the North Hills Sand Dunes, we decided that we would go and check these out on the way back home.

As dunes go, this is actually a small area, although kind of novel. It is tucked right against some low foothills and looks completely out of place. We did a little exploring, drove around on the dunes a bit, tried a couple of hills and had a little fun. Our impression was that this is an area better suited to ATVs and sand rails rather than heavier 4x4s, but it is worth checking out if you are nearby.

Here are some of our pictures, the first is a rather blurry picture of a sweet FJ 45 that we saw on the road. Don't ever let a camera salesman tell you that the still shots that you are going to get with a video camera are going to be high or even good quality, BTW, it just doesn't happen. If videos weren't so time consuming and such a royal PITA to get onto the forum, I would post more, but we have pretty much quit taking videos for that reason.:

[Brody]

More pictures

[Brody]

And some more

[Brody]

And the last batch:

[Aaron]

Very cool. Jealous.

[Mporter]

Great write up brody.

When I read the review on Traildamage.com I wasn't sure of how my stock rig could handle it (i also watched the videos of the mud hole and got kinda freaked out) but your review sounds like as long as i get my lift on and put them 33's i've been talkin about, I should be able to do this, right?

[Funrover]

I really wish I could make it. I am doing this trail next year (late in sept of course) I really want to see what this trail is like

[Brody]

No problem on doing the trails. I would just pick the time of year right so that it hasn't been really wet, either from snow melt or rain. Having run the trail, I wouldn't be hesitant about taking an off the floor stocker on it with whatever the tires it came with. There were a couple of sections where you were going downhill on a muddy trail, but if you were to take it slow (low range, low gear) and stayed off the brakes, even stock tires wouldn't be bad.

Looking at the trail as it was last weekend and the weather as it stands today, I would say that there are probably only one or two more weekends left to run this trail in good conditions. There is probably a decent window during August and September where the trail is in a 'easy to moderate' category. A lot of wet weather or snowfall would make this trail approach the difficult rating.

For those seeking harder trails, running this trail right after it opens up would be challenging...

Someone had run the Elkhorn section about 60 minutes in front of us and one rig had BFG ATs and the other a street tread...

Like I said, this, to me, is a very family friendly, scenic trail with many gorgeous camping spots that are just enough off the beaten track. It is also somewhat remote, you are a long ways from help, and the trails aren't run all that much, so do not run it alone. I would guesstimate that you are roughly 30 miles from services of any kind from pretty much any point on the trail. A days walk, but a long days walk and something that needs to be taken into consideration.

[Funrover]

You up for it next year?

[Aaron]

You up for it next year?

Unless I break my rig again (and don't have it fixed) I'll be doing it next year.

Aaron

[Brody]

Oh yeah. I think LaDawn and I would do this again, no problem. I would pass on the dunes this time and spend more time exploring some of the many spur roads off of Elkhorn Mountain and behind Hog Reservoir instead.

Since you end up coming back down through Hwy 14 (one of the ways, anyway) we remarked about how you could run Sevenmile to Kelly Flats on the way back and then even Moody and Crystal, all off the Hwy14 corridor...be a fun 3 day weekend...

I was thinking that running this trail Labor Day weekend ish would be a challenging time, though I don't really like doing anything on holiday type weekends. Trying to get 3 days back to back is usually a little hard for people.

The dunes, like I said, are worth checking out if you are close by or have a rail or ATV. Other than that, I doubt we will ever go back. I tend to not like to red line my motor if I don't have to and that is what it seems to take on the dunes. Another alternative would be to continue up to the Encampment area rather then going around Hog Reservoir and back down. The whole Ellis trail can be run in a few hours up to the Reservoir part, then you also have the option of exploring the area around Vedauwoo on the return trip. Lots of options...

[Funrover]

Oh yeah. I think LaDawn and I would do this again, no problem. I would pass on the dunes this time and spend more time exploring some of the many spur roads off of Elkhorn Mountain and behind Hog Reservoir instead.

Since you end up coming back down through Hwy 14 (one of the ways, anyway) we remarked about how you could run Sevenmile to Kelly Flats on the way back and then even Moody and Crystal, all off the Hwy14 corridor...be a fun 3 day weekend...

I had that thought while we were taking care of the Nephew. We drove by Kelly Flats and such. I am more than up for a 3 day wheeling weekend!



Unless I break my rig again (and don't have it fixed) I'll be doing it next year.

Aaron

You have all winter to get her up and running!

[1freaky1]

Just showed Val the pics and we are talking about doing a camping trip next fall. Especially since we did not get to go camping this year at all. Guess this means I need to get the camping trailer going this winter after doing the axle swaps.

[Funrover]

Just showed Val the pics and we are talking about doing a camping trip next fall. Especially since we did not get to go camping this year at all. Guess this means I need to get the camping trailer going this winter after doing the axle swaps.

WOO HOO More projects LOL What kind of camper?

[DETN8R]

Looks like you had an awesome time guys. Great pics

[Mporter]

I'm definitely in for next year...hopefully my rig wont be as stock as it is right now

[Brody]

I'm definitely in for next year...hopefully my rig wont be as stock as it is right now

Wouldn't matter. I ran the trail with street pressure in 2WD with an open rear axle with the exception of two mud holes that I could have bypassed. The rig was briefly in 4WD for these, but in 12-14 hours of backwoods trails, I was in 4WD for all of 15 minutes, tops, and that was mainly because I got stuck in both of them.

Well's rating of the trail as 'difficult' is a bit of a misnomer unless it is either covered with snow or early in the season when it is really wet and boggy. The rating of the trail as we ran it would be casual to easy...just very pretty. The spur roads seem to offer a bit more of a challenge, but we didn't do these this time around.

I would have been comfortable running it in a decent 2WD pick up truck and good regular tires.

[Rob]

Looks like Pete covered the highlights of the trip. I agree that neither Ellis nor Elkhorn should be rated difficult (trail damage gives Ellis a high of 6, but doesn't have Elkhorn listed).

The pics and videos of Ellis on trail damage show the extreme of the trail. I think we hit it when it was at the low end of difficulty. Still, even if the bogs are at their maximum, it wouldn't be technically difficult. You'd either bull your way through the bogs or winch yourself out. I ran most of it in AWD (I don't have a two-wheel-drive option in the MT FJ), and occasionally locked the center diff for true four-wheel drive. I might have gone into low range for a couple of uphill sections to pull 4,500 pounds of steel up steeper sections.

Pics from Ellis:

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And a couple of videos:

Pete in the first mud hole:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5APLo3PHwLk

Pete running through smaller mud puddles


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PK2lo0521k

[DETN8R]

Sweet vids

[Rob]

Elkhorn would have been even easier if it had been dry. It wasn't particularly difficult, but I definitely used low range on the downhill sections because it was very slick in places (plus I don't have big mud tires like Pete's rig and I don't have an exo cage). My BFG AT KO's were packed with mud most of the time, making it hard to steer on a couple of downhill turns, and my rearend tried to slide out in a few sections. Doable in two-wheel-drive if it's dry, not so much when it's wet and raining.

I didn't get many pics of this trail; I was too busy trying to avoid trees while sliding around in the slick mud.

We camped along a stream near the start of Elkhorn Mountain Trail:

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Here's how Pete makes firewood:

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This is what a lot of the scenery was like: golden aspens and beetle-killed pine:

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I'd like to pass this off as an artsy photo, but it was because condensation had formed on the camera lens overnight:

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Saw some wildlife, but mostly cattle:
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[DKDunn04]

Looks like a fun time.

[Rob]

And some pics and vids from North Sand Hills:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wii0zJDnKnY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64iBxns863g

[Funrover]

Nice Dune shots!

[Mporter]

Nice pics DrUnit!

[4Runninfun]

Very cool run guys!

[Brody]

Thanks for the pictures and videos!

Yeah, the dune videos were pretty nice. I have to remember not to get too carried away with doing donuts and cutting tight turns(you can see that my turns were neither tight nor fast). With the soft suspension and lift on mine, I get the inside tires up in the air really fast and can easily roll the damn thing. Anyone ever read Peterson's when they have the Reader's Rigs or Whoops? Peterson's always asks "What was your funniest/dumbest wheeling incident?" So often the answer is "Well, we had just gotten done with the trail and I decided to turn some donuts in the parking lot. Next thing you know, my rig is top down and rubber side up". Keep that in mind...

Here are a few more from my end:

[WINKY]

we need to get a good group together and do this run round the same time next year. i really want to go on it!

[Brody]

we need to get a good group together and do this run round the same time next year. i really want to go on it!

I agree. When we did this trail, I was wondering why many other groups haven't done it and posted it up. There was nothing posted on any of the Ft Collins or Wyoming 4x4 club sites about it at all. It is pretty, suitable for damn near anything ( I have wheeled harder stuff in a Honda Civic, a Kia, and a Volvo 145 just getting to rock climbs), camping is everywhere, etc, etc. It is also very suitable for larger groups of people as there are big areas to camp in, many with excellent views.

The only people who wouldn't especially like this run would be people who are looking for a challenging trail. We didn't know what to really expect, so we weren't disappointed.

[porkchop]

looks like fun ill have to make it there next year

[1freaky1]

WOO HOO More projects LOL What kind of camper?

Aaron we are turning the little Toyota trailer w shell I got from Mike into our camping trailer, Mainly a bed, storage, w/ slide out stove 2 propane tanks and water tanks.

[Funrover]

Aaron we are turning the little Toyota trailer w shell I got from Mike into our camping trailer, Mainly a bed, storage, w/ slide out stove 2 propane tanks and water tanks.

Cool! :thunb:

[Brody]

[QUOTE=DrUnit;59659]Looks like Pete covered the highlights of the trip. I agree that neither Ellis nor Elkhorn should be rated difficult (trail damage gives Ellis a high of 6, but doesn't have Elkhorn listed).

We at least know where the 55 mile figure comes from. Whoever wrote that article obviously did the same loop we did and called the full loop Ellis Jeep Trail.

I ran most of it in AWD (I don't have a two-wheel-drive option in the MT FJ), and occasionally locked the center diff for true four-wheel drive. I might have gone into low range for a couple of uphill sections to pull 4,500 pounds of steel up steeper sections.

We ran almost the whole trail in 2WD low range since we did have the option. Lower gears were good to have on the descents, but a 2WD with a manual would have the lower gears needed, especially in first. And I bet my rig weighs more than your FJ, Rob, especially with all the steel padding....

[WINKY]

i really think they rated this trail during the hard wet season...

[4Runner3Wheeler]

I'm definitely in for next year and love the idea of exploring around Vedauwoo! Beautiful country. Nice reviews. Count me in!


Oh yeah. I think LaDawn and I would do this again, no problem. I would pass on the dunes this time and spend more time exploring some of the many spur roads off of Elkhorn Mountain and behind Hog Reservoir instead.

Since you end up coming back down through Hwy 14 (one of the ways, anyway) we remarked about how you could run Sevenmile to Kelly Flats on the way back and then even Moody and Crystal, all off the Hwy14 corridor...be a fun 3 day weekend...

I was thinking that running this trail Labor Day weekend ish would be a challenging time, though I don't really like doing anything on holiday type weekends. Trying to get 3 days back to back is usually a little hard for people.

The dunes, like I said, are worth checking out if you are close by or have a rail or ATV. Other than that, I doubt we will ever go back. I tend to not like to red line my motor if I don't have to and that is what it seems to take on the dunes. Another alternative would be to continue up to the Encampment area rather then going around Hog Reservoir and back down. The whole Ellis trail can be run in a few hours up to the Reservoir part, then you also have the option of exploring the area around Vedauwoo on the return trip. Lots of options...