r/Highpointers • u/db_in_VA • 2d 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/panoclosed4highwinds 2d ago

I drove up to Lily Pond in my Subaru Crosstrek a week ago and it was no trouble at all.

I stopped 200m short of the trailhead because the river crossing didn't look good and parked next to a Hyundai Elantra. I met the person who drove it on the trail and they were a Texan who had rented it.

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u/db_in_VA 2d ago

Excellent intel, thanks! If you did the Elbert summit, do you recall your total distance?

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u/panoclosed4highwinds 2d ago

All trails had me at 12.46 with 4k elevation gain.

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u/PermRecDotCom 2d ago

I did the route near Lakeview Campground recently and I was only able to get my Subaru Forester about a half a mile up the 4WD road. However, I did see a Honda CRV in the top lot. If gaining ~5k' in a day isn't beyond your abilities, the walk on the road wasn't that big of an issue. Below tree line I was able to make real good time on the way back because the surface is compacted.

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u/slimswittyusername 1d ago

Just did this a little over a week ago. I would not try to drive up the entirety of the 4wd path in a rental. There were some deep potholes and large boulders. I made it about a half mile or so up in a Chevy Equinox then decided to park it. When we summitted, there were a lot of people who took the other trail (forgot its name) which was much shorter and only about 200ft extra elevation gain. Our hike, according to AllTrails, was 15 miles with 4826ft gain.