Mt. Ellen

At the summit of the Henry Mountains, you will stand at the highest peak in the range with views stretching across the entire Colorado Plateau. The Mt. Ellen trail is an alpine adventure above the treeline, beginning from the high-altitude parking lot at Bull Creek Pass. Hikers can expect a steep, rocky ascent where the trail occasionally fades but remains easy to track by following the ridgeline. The summit reward is a spectacular 360-degree panorama of the Waterpocket Fold, the La Sal and Abajo Mountains, and the sweeping desert below. These heights are often shared with the Henry Mountains bison herd; as one of the only genetically pure, free-roaming herds in the country, these descendants of Yellowstone transplants can often be seen grazing in the high alpine meadows of Mt. Ellen during the summer months to escape the desert heat.