Exploring White Pocket - Fellowship Travel International Inc

I've lived in Flagstaff, AZ, since 2003, where I'm an active member of the Coconino County Sheriff's Search & Rescue team and an avid hiker.

Join Me for an Adventure Very Much off the Beaten Path

There are many places here in the southwestern United States that easily fit that description—hidden gems and wild, wonderful, even weird places far down unpaved back roads and rugged two-tracks that are a challenge to get to but well worth the trip. I've been fortunate to visit many places like that since moving to Arizona more than a decade ago.

But there's one such hidden gem that stands out in my mind as the most awesome of them all, and that's a geological wonder called White Pocket. It's a magical piece of the planet, tucked away in the Coyote Buttes area of the Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. White Pocket actually looks more like a massive sculpture made by other-worldly hands than rock formations. I was lucky to visit this amazing site a couple of years ago with my adventurous friend Sueanne.

Here, I'd like to invite you on a virtual tour of this fantastical place. I'm not a geologist or an expert on natural history, and there's plenty of both you could cover about this area, but I'll share a bunch of photos from my own day-trip and some information about White Pocket— including how to get there if you're so inclined—and point you to other good resources and maps to help you plan your own trip.

So, grab your imaginary hiking shoes, your sunscreen, some water and snacks, and your adventurous streak of course, and c'mon....

Even the Most Rugged 4WDS Get Stuck From Time to Time

But we didn't! I took the photo above from the bouncy passenger seat of Sueanne's pickup, on one of the better stretches of road on our way to White Pocket. She had to keep up the speed to lessen the chance of getting stuck, but there was one rugged hill where that was tough. I was a little nervous, myself. (Just don't tell Sueanne.)

Coyote Buttes, separated into north and south sections, is a 112,500-acre, remote expanse of desert managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This area encompasses part of extreme southern Utah and northernmost Arizona, south of Highway 89 between Kanab, UT, and Page, AZ. The main road into this area, called House Rock Valley Road, is unpaved and unmaintained, and the other, even more minor roads are often just tracks of sand like what you see here.

Much of Coyote Buttes is within a BLM permit Area where permits are required for day use. Overnight camping is not allowed. White Pocket, however, is outside of that permit area, so if you can get to it, you're free to explore and camp near the trailhead.

As far as I know, the name "White Pocket" refers to both the large mesa you see here from the trailhead and to another area of rock formations not visible from where I was standing when I took the picture.

At the time, Sueanne and I had no idea what was out there. Our trip to White Pocket was a spontaneous adventure we took while we waited to use our coveted permit for The Wave the next day. After we'd left the permit lottery at the ranger station, Sueanne had looked over our map of Coyote Buttes, saw the name "White Pocket" and said a friend of hers had mentioned it. The friend had said it was "awesome." So we decided to go check it out for ourselves. We had the right vehicle to do it and plenty of supplies, not to mention Sueanne's off-roading skills and our combined curiosity for out-of-the-way places.

So, obviously we made it. The drive took us about two hours from the White House Ranger Station on Highway 89, including a few stops to check out the road ahead, to make a second run at a spot where we almost got stuck, and to take a closer look at something interesting along the way. When we got to our destination, we grabbed our day packs loaded with water and our cameras and started trudging up the soft sand toward whatever was out there.

I was wearing trail runners, and I had to empty the sand out twice before we even got to the end of the soft trail, which was less than a mile.