I Saw The Elephant

The phrase I Saw the Elephant came into use during the Civil War. It means to see life or to gain experience during devastating events, particularly near-death experiences.

Last Friday we were invited to go hiking with some friends, Tait and Susan. The selected destination was Elephant Arch, located in the foothills a few miles north of Washington. It has a unique shape that looks like the head and trunk of an elephant.

It was a beautiful day, the temperature in Dixie was approaching 80, but was tempered by a mild breeze. The clouds were gorgeous, and as we hiked they offered occasional shade.

The wildflowers were in full bloom. It was nice to be able to ask Tait the names of the various flowers and plants, which are his specialty. Not that I will remember them too long. Susan has her own specialty that she likes to photograph, but in the interest of propriety it will not be discussed here.

Desert Marigold

Globe Mallow

Wild Four-o-clock

Thistle blossom

Flowering Cactus

As you get further into the hills the trail follows a wash that is full of interesting formations. this one reminded me of cliff dwellings.

Ellie got a little heat stroke or something and decided to rest here and wait for us. I stayed with her to make sure she was going to be okay, then caught up with Tait and Susan. This formation sort of looks like an eye-less ear-less elephant don't you think?

There are no marked trails to this arch, so we had to do some exploring to find it and it took a while. I didn't want to give up because a little over a year ago I tried to find this arch while hiking with Richard Jensen and failed. We split up and Tait finally located it. It isn't too obvious until you get fairly close, and even then it may be hard to spot depending on the light and angle of view.

Susan is sitting below the elephant's trunk in this photo, directing Tait and I to get her best angle. I climbed up and sat on the elephant's head, that's the closest I have ever come to riding an elephant.

The elephant, and Susan, from a different angle. After taking photos I decided to head back so Ellie wouldn't think we had returned by a different route and left her there.

We were all a little exhausted, dry and hungry when we returned to the truck. We figured we hiked somewhere around eight miles, a lot of it in sand. I would suggest if you want to do this hike and want to make it a little easier that you get a key to the gate, which I understand is available from Saint George City. If you drive to the city water well at the end of the road it would cut the hiking distance down to about three miles.

Before returning home our friends treated us to dinner at Chuck-A-Rama for Ellie's birthday which was about a week ago. We stuffed ourselves and I must have guzzled a gallon of water and fruit punch.