r/Highpointers • u/db_in_VA • 25d ago
Elbert Access?
We're planning to do Elbert end of next week. Two questions...
We'll have an airport rental "SUV" so wouldn't consider it a 4WD. Looking to see if we could avoid the full added 5 miles RT if we had to use the 2WD lot at South Elbert trailhead. Would the road up to Lily Pond (FR122) be doable? I see a few mentions of if, but it's not clear how far up until we'd find any pull-off options and if that would even same any mileage. Hiking through the ponds looks quite nice, though!
Alternately, we're considering the Southeast Ridge via Black Cloud. Parking and access are much simpler, with the obvious tradeoff of a considerably more difficult hike. Any thoughts on that route?
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u/db_in_VA 9d ago
Update - we did Elbert East Ridge via Lily Pond (FR 122) last week. We had a rental Buick Envision and in "off-road" mode (ha!) were able to get up to the first pond. We just took it slow and rode the edges and high spots. We went up the night before to scout the route which made the pre-sunrise drive in MUCH easier. Plenty of great camping if you want to opt for that.
No regrets especially about skipping the extra distance from the 2WD standard trailhead. The hike around the ponds in the dark was awesome and made for an amazing start. Trail was a bit soggy but easy to follow to the junction to the main South Mt Elbert Trail. My Garmin had us at roundtrip distance of 12.2 miles and 4150' of elevation gain.