Off-Roading to White Pockets

This was the second half of a long day of adventure on November 1, 2015 in the Coyote Buttes area of the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.  Having wolfed down a scrumptious trail lunch fixed by our guide Don, we piled back into his 4x4 truck for the teeth-jarring, nerve-challenging ride further on into the wilderness to find White Pockets.  There are at least two or three routes in, but all are over sandy roads.  Google Map notes "White Pocket" and the coordinates are 36.955117, -111.893667. But BE WARNED:  You should only attempt to drive in to this location if you have a high-clearance 4x4 with good off-road tires which you have deflated for sand, you have experience driving off-road in deep sand and through washes, and there has been no rain for a few days and none in the forecast for your visit.

As we started our hike on the trail into White Pocket, we could see White Pocket Butte beyond our destination:

Our first view of the formations in White Pocket was this dramatic scene, which we dubbed the "River of Chocolate":

David couldn't resist putting his feet right into the middle of it!

The others followed in, too entranced with the scenery to move fast:

Kathy spotted this stone sculpture of Skeletor:

Further on, Don pointed out the rust-colored pattern in this butte, which he says the locals call, "The Swan":

Everywhere were patters in red, brown, white, ochre, orange, yellow, purple and pastels of all shades, made more dramatic by shadows playing across them:

This feature stands guard over what Don called, "The Worm Hole."  The oranges and reds we saw in real life were even more dramatic than this photo can show:

Here is Don descending into the Worm Hole ahead of us:

One by one, we crawled down through the Worm Hole.  On the other side, we stood on an undulating ripple of rosy sandstone.  Here, Joanne is marveling at the colors and shapes while Ray makes his way to join her:

Kathy wanted to become one with the earth:

Mikael, too, couldn't resist putting himself up in the center of the fiery orange eye behind the Worm Hole:

A chance glance up one channel of the Worm Hole revealed these pockets of moss, which evidently found some moisture and nutrients and were spreading their complementary color over the pink stone:

Further north through the formation, we encountered an old cow path - a clearly defined trail worn smooth across the white sandstone, where herds of cattle had filed deliberately down to a water pond that some past rancher had built by damming the far end of a pocket so that it would hold more rainwater:

Heading back around the area to the west, we came across this golden "Castle" --

and then, to top that off, this colorful formation that Don calls the "Ice Cream":

He reported that geologists haven't explained how the sandstone deformed in so many, varied ways in this area, reporting that there are theories involving earthquakes, subsidence, sinkholes, water flow, and more.

As we climbed back to exit the area onto our trial back to the truck, we climbed up what Don likes to call the "Glacier of Rock," frozen in its flow downhill:

On the long ride back through the sandy tracks to where Don picked us up, we were all quiet, trying to digest the infinite shapes and colors we had witnessed today.  We appreciated that Don had willingly given up a 14-hour day to bring us these gifts, and we thanked him warmly for his hospitality and his willingness to share these beautiful, secret places.

If you're interested, you can find all of our photos from White Pockets here.