ATV Adventures: Discovering the wonders of White Pocket in a UTV
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- We found unusual rock formations on the way to and from the White Pocket formation.
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- Pockets of water dot the White Pocket formation. This one looks like a giant footprint.
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- Terry and Michelle sit among the rock swirls at White Pocket.
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- Part of the beauty of White Pocket is imagining how it was formed.
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- The author and his wife Gayle standing in the midst of White Pocket.
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- Lynn Blamires
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
We found unusual rock formations on the way to and from the White Pocket formation.
“Planning meeting” is code for a social event that involves going out to dinner and planning a ride. Sometimes we go out to dinner and forget to plan the ride because going out to dinner – the social part – is the most important part of the event.
Everyone in my circle of friends will agree (tongue-in-cheek) that you can’t go on a ride without having a planning meeting. As stated, a planning meeting doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a ride. However, one set of friends, Terry and Michelle Maxfield, when they call a planning meeting, they mean business. There will be a ride.
One such meeting was called at the end of September. The Maxfield’s have a condo in St. George. They wanted us to join them and show them some places to ride. I told them about a couple of places we could go and plans were made. One of these was White Pocket.
I consider White Pocket to be a part of the Kanab UTV experience because of its location even though it is in Arizona. From Kanab, you can plan adventures to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Hog Canyon and White Pocket.
White Pocket is in a remote region of the Paria Plateau. It features swirling, multicolored formations of Navajo sandstone, including domes, hoodoos, gullies and potholes. It is an amazing place to visit.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
Pockets of water dot the White Pocket formation. This one looks like a giant footprint.
Access is off Highway 89A south of Fredonia and Jacob Lake. Because it is in Arizona, we bought Arizona OHV permits, loaded our machines in Terry’s enclosed trailer and headed for St. George.
We couldn’t have picked better weather. The sky was clear, with temperatures in the low 70s. We were more interested in temperate weather than they were. They had just purchased a new fully enclosed Polaris Xpediton UTV with heating and air conditioning. They were excited to take it out on the trail.
We left St. George early on a Thursday in October and after grabbing a breakfast sandwich at the Mav, we were on our way. We entered Arizona at Colorado City and turned right at Fredonia. Passing through the Kaibab National Forest, we went by the turn to Jacob Lake and soon began to drop down from the mountains. In the distance, we could see a little ranch and the House Rock Valley Road that would take us to White Pocket.
We found a place to stage off the highway near House Rock Valley Road. We unloaded and prepared for our adventure. This road took us North along the west side of the Vermillion Cliffs. A few miles from the highway is a place to observe the California Condor.
The California Condor is the largest bird in North America, weighing up to 24 pounds with a wing span of 9 1/2 feet. From a low of 22 condors in 1982, over 200 California condors live in the wild. The Peregrine Fund, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has released these scavenger birds from Vermilion Cliffs National Monument since 1996.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
Terry and Michelle sit among the rock swirls at White Pocket.
In the backcountry, never pass a toilet without stopping. We took advantage of the one at the viewing area and were on our way. We continued north to Pine Tree Road where we turned east.
This took us by the Pine Tree Homestead. I have stopped here before, it is an interesting place, but now it is fenced with a large sign on an old rusted tank that says, “Don’t even stop within a ¼ mile.” I guess there have been too many curious visitors. We continued on a well-marked trail to White Pocket.
With the White Pocket formation to the north and west of us, we parked our machines outside a buck and pole fence and walked into this other world landscape. White Pocket is one square mile of a colorful palette of swirling, twisted sandstone that stretches the imagination to its limits. It is a maze of warped slick rock pitted with myriads of water pockets filled with rainwater. We had to pay attention to where we were walking being in awe of the twisted towering rock formations above us. We enjoyed sharing this with Terry and Michelle who had never been here before.
Finding shade, we had lunch and began our ride back to the truck. Our round trip was about 54 miles. When you go, take plenty of water, keep the rubber side down and put White Pocket on your bucket list.
Contact Lynn R. Blamires at quadmanone@gmail.com.
Lynn Blamires, Special to the Standard-Examiner
Part of the beauty of White Pocket is imagining how it was formed.
The author and his wife Gayle standing in the midst of White Pocket.
