October 18, 2025

By Tim Briese

3.0 miles, 400’ elevation gain, 3:40 roundtrip time

White Pocket is an otherworldly place of colorful rock formations in far northern Arizona. Teresa and I had visited it a few years ago on a chilly January day, after seeing it repeatedly featured in Arizona Highways magazine and other places, and we went back to see it again today. It is a difficult place to get to though, with a lengthy drive of over ten miles on a deep sandy track that requires 4WD. We did it with our Tacoma last time but we didn’t have the truck on this trip so we rented a jeep in Page. On the drive to White Pocket we stopped at the scenic bridge over Marble Canyon and the Colorado River.

the colorado river flowing down marble canyon

It was exciting to see a couple of California condors sitting on the framework under the bridge. They are the largest land bird in North America, with a wingspan of over 9 feet, and are very rare, with only a few hundred in existence.

the birds are on the frame under the bridge

We continued on the drive to White Pocket, which is located in the scenic Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. The sandy track was actually a lot of fun to drive in the jeep, with no concerns whatsoever about getting stuck. There were several other vehicles parked at the trailhead when we arrived.

We followed a sandy path to the west less than a half mile into White Pocket and proceeded to wander around and explore this amazing place for the next few hours. There are no trails in White Pocket.

approaching the formations

a fun spot that required a bit of rock scrambling - what 70 year olds do for fun!

there is a lot of white brain rock at white pocket

When we left Teresa wanted to have some of the fun driving the jeep so she drove us back out to better roads.

We stopped at scenic Marble Canyon again but the condors were gone now. Several photographers were awaiting their return to roost under the bridge.

another view of marble canyon in the late afternoon sunlight

We drove on back to Page for the night.