January 10, 2021

By Tim Briese

5.0 miles, 500’ elevation gain, 4:00 hours

White Pocket is a spectacular place in northern Arizona, featuring an incredible display of nature’s artwork in sandstone, with fantastic shapes, colors and textures. It is located in a remote area in the far northern part of the state, less than five miles from the Utah border, in the remote Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. I had seen it featured many times in Arizona Highways magazine and in other places and for several years it was high on our list of places to see. The big deterrent was difficult access, because one must drive many miles through deep sand on a high clearance 4WD road to get there. I had not driven much through deep sand and was concerned about getting stranded in such a remote place. I obtained valuable information about driving there on the phone from an employee at the BLM visitor center in Kanab, UT, which was somewhat reassuring. We also equipped ourselves with a shovel, tow strap, traction boards, and a 12v tire pump in case we needed to partially deflate our tires. We were ready to give this adventure a try!

We left Page, AZ early in the morning in the dark and drove south on Hwy. 89 and then west on 89A over the Colorado River through Marble Canyon past the Vermillion Cliffs.

early sunlight on the vermillion cliffs

We turned right onto the dirt House Rock Valley Road and followed it 9.2 miles north until we spotted an old corral on the left. At this point we turned right onto BLM 1017 and the adventure began. The first 6.2 miles to Pine Tree Pocket Ranch was not bad and could probably be driven with a 2WD vehicle. At the ranch there was an old house and a windmill behind a fence, and at this point we turned left onto BLM 1087, per an excellent map I had downloaded from the BLM website. Fortunately roads were well marked. From this point we drove 9.4 miles north on BLM 1087 and BLM 1086 all the way to White Pocket. The road was deep sand all the way with occasional solid rocky places. I drove in high range 4WD and just kept moving, as fast as the terrain allowed, perhaps 20 mph or so for much of the way, and all went well. It probably helped somewhat that the sand was solidified a bit by the cold temperature in the 20’s.

driving through the deep sand

It was a great thrill to pull into the spacious parking area for White Pocket! It took about 2:20 to drive the 90 miles here from Page, and a little over 45 minutes from House Rock Valley Road, less than we expected. There was one other vehicle parked there when we arrived.

We excitedly headed west on a sandy trail about a thousand feet to the edge of White Pocket and then began to explore this other-worldly place, clicking innumerable photos.

There are no trails at White Pocket, one just wanders around and explores. Two other people were up on a rock some distance away. We wandered around for the next couple of hours, as exhilarated as two kids in a candy store.

this type of rock is very descriptively called "brain rock"

it was great fun climbing around on the brain rock

We made a general loop around the northern half of the area then headed back to the truck for lunch. There were now a couple more vehicles there, at least one of which looked like an outfitter who had brought clients out on a tour. This spectacular place would be overrun with visitors if it were easier to get to. The challenging access keeps visitors to a minimum. After lunch we headed back out to explore for a couple more hours, looping generally around the southern part of the area.

We considered climbing a few hundred feet to the summit of a white sandstone monolith, which some maps refer to as White Pocket, in order to obtain some general views, but the only reasonable approach appeared to be on the north side of it, which was covered was a light mantle of snow, and we deemed that too hazardous.

the summit we elected not to climb is in the center

The name White Pocket more generally refers to depressions in the white rock occasionally found scattered throughout the formations that hold water after rains.

one of the "white pockets" that we came across

a fun place to scramble down

It was great fun wandering around and exploring this fantastic place! It was chilly today, in the 30’s, but that was not a problem at all. We had bright sunshine in the morning and some high clouds filtered in during the afternoon, which gave us a variety of lighting conditions for photos today. There were a handful of other folks out here but we saw them only occasionally and from a considerable distance.

Around mid afternoon we reluctantly returned to the truck and departed. The drive back through the sand went well and we returned to Page at dusk.