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Whitney Pocket is located at the base of the Virgin Mountains in the Gold Butte National Monument. It is a palette of sandstone color. ‘Whitney” is the surname of an original landowner; "Pockets" is due to the pockets of red Aztec sandstone that has been exposed by the erosion of the lower fringes of the Virgin Mountains. This grouping of yellow, tan and rusty red sandstone outcrops exhibit unusual erosion patterns full of cave-like holes and bowls throughout the monoliths. The area is best know for the Whitney Pocket Dam built between 1933 to 1942 by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). A nearby cave, in a Aztec sandstone monolith opposite the dam, was walled in by the CCC. In spite of CCC and cattlemen’s efforts to harvest the scarce water supplies, this region does not favor successful ranching. The summers are unbearably hot and often the winters are quite harsh. The road runs to the Arizona border. Click her for pictures and a description of this trip ...
Whitney Pockets and Arizona Road.
