Photos from an Elephant Butte climb in April 2003 as provided by John Mitchler.
The team consisted of Greg Griffith, Peter Jamieson, John Mitchler, Dave Covill,
Chris Haaland, Gwenda Jamieson, Jennifer and Gerry Roach.
Photo 1 - Elephant Butte from north (start hike on right end of butte).
There are no photos of Elephant Butte in the visitor center on postcards or in books.
Photo 2 - From the west end parking lot, bushwhack towards the butte and watch
for the slots that head east into the butte. Pick the one that appears full of jumbled rock.
Photo 3 - The "lower problem" is a low Class 5 cliff-bench which Dave Covill is
seen here scaling. Most of us used a rope to the right of Dave to hoist ourselves up over the wall.
This is the step that turned back Andy Martin on his first attempt of the butte. He was alone
at this point late in the day.
Photo 4 - After gaining elevation via the slot, the path comes to an
open air platform. The arrow shows the path you walk to the bolts set in the sandstone.
Rig an anchor and rappel off 50 feet.
Photo 5 - John Mitchler ready to rappel. Peter Jamieson commands the anchor.
Photo 6 - Jennifer Roach displays fine rappel form as she descends this crux of
the route. This is the cliff that requires ascending using an ascender device unless you
take an alternate slot canyon.
Photo 7 - After the rappel, you are faced with scaling the relatively easy
sloping sandstone of the upper butte.
Photo 8 - The "upper problem" is a breach in the upper ledge - actually a narrow
crack which requires a shimmy move. Gerry Roach here demonstrates a graceful ascent of this crack.
Photo 9 - Hero photo on the summit of Elephant Butte: Greg Griffith, John
Mitchler, Dave Covill, and Gerry Roach.
Photo 10 - We elected to avoid ascending the crux rappel, and instead followed a
slot to the left (west/south). This narrow canyon required a careful move across a problematic water catch,
here being negotiated by John. A few feet beyond the water are bolts which mark the rapple off the butte.
Photo 11 - Looking up at the descent rappel, this is the narrow drainage which
ends in a hanging ledge, thus the rappel is free in air for 35 feet or so. Once down,
it is a scramble off ledges to the valley floor and then a short walk back to the parking lot.
Photo 12 - After the climb our group retired to the parking lot
where we snacked, drank and proceeded to unfurl John Mitchler's big topo map of Everglades National Park.
Dave Covill and Greg Griffith exchanged opinions about the four potential highpoint areas.
From right to left: Gerry Roach (looking distinctly uninterested about anything with an elevation of seven feet);
Andy Martin (itching to try a flat NP HP after dealing with Arches);
John Mitchler (discussing the merits of Florida parks over Alaska parks);
Dave Covill (explaining the merits of Chikeka as the park highpoint);
Greg Griffith (explaining the merits of grid walking the entire park just to
be sure you hit the HP).
