Ride n' Hike to Mount Ellen
I can see the Henry Mountains from my front yard but in the three years I'd lived here I hadn't made my way over there. They seem so remote and barren and most people that write about them use the word 'inaccessible'. Nonetheless there are several interesting facts about them, geologically they are a mammoform laccolith which is a feature where volcanoes have pushed lava up under them but not broken through the overlying sedimentary layers. The Henry Mountains were in fact the first range to be called a laccolith and are mentioned in every basic university geology book. They are also home to the largest free roaming herd of buffalo in the US, they were introduced in the mid 20th century and now number around 200. They range over a huge area on the mountain range and the surrounding deserts and have no restrictions, unfortunately they were nowhere to be seen on this day. The mountains are named after the secretary of the Smithsonian who helped Powell finance his expediti...