Climbing Elephant Tusk - Big Bend National Park, TX

Climbing Elephant Tusk - Big Bend National Park. The Elephant Tusk is a well-known mountain at Big Bend National Park, and a peak that I've known about for a long time. It requires high clearance and maybe 4WD to get to the trailhead, but it could be approached from other ways with longer hikes. My buddy Mark, who hasn't hiked substantially in five years, was eager to get back out to Big Bend, and on top of Elephant Tusk for a second time. We were able to get to the trailhead in his truck, and we were able to make the climb and survive the hot return. Fortunately we had a breeze and plenty of liquid. The peak was awesome, and other that a little cheating with a rope on the way down, I was able to do the climb with no problems.

We parked at the Elephant Tusk campground, but I was informed that there is trailhead parking about 50 yds. to the southwest, which we didn't know about. However, with the heat, we felt there was very little chance of anyone showing up to camp there that day anyway.

Here is Mark's video from when he climbed it:    • Elephant Tusk Mountain  

Here's the GPS track:   / strava