Gold Butte National Monument

Gold Butte National Monument covers just under 300,000 acres of rugged Mohave Desert covered in Joshua Trees, and protects: unique red sandstone formations, an old ghost town, a sinkhole, and several areas of rock art (petroglyphs). If you can get here, there is abundant hiking, rock art hunting, and miles of scenic drives.

The Drive In

After leaving the highway we begin the ~21 mile journey up ~2500 ft of elevation over very rough road, through washes, around mountains, and by scenic vistas to get to Whitney Pocket; which is our chosen camp spot for the duration of our stay. This road is technically paved; and many resources advertise it as such. But, it hasn’t been well maintained and is in very rough shape. It would probably be better if they removed the pavement and took it back to dirt.

The road is so rough that once we reach camp, we discover that we have repairs and cleanup to do in both the truck and the camper. In the camper – the Microwave has worked it’s way off of it’s support bracket on one side and the refrigerator door has popped open slightly spilling a few small items on the floor. In the truck – the solar controller has come off the top of the battery pack housing.

Campsite

Once we reach camp, we set up in a way that the afternoon sun is blocked by a very large rock formation and we run the portable solar panels out to the end of their cables. This allows us to catch the morning and early afternoon sun on both the camper and portable solar panels and the hot late afternoon sun on the portable panels only. It’s a perfect setup for the expected temperatures.

Once setup is complete and the repairs from the drive in are made, we have the opportunity to take in the views from camp at dusk.

Morning hike

Today we awake to perfect weather and quickly decide to explore the area around camp on foot.

Heading west from camp we instantly find this small cave at the base of the rocks behind camp. We now know where all the bats came from at dusk last night.

CCC Storage Cave

As we turn the corner we see this multicolor rock formation where the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Storage cave is located. It’s significantly cooler here and is very easy to understand why the CCC workers set this up as storage.

A little further down the path we see an incredible view and a few people milling around the CCC cistern located across the road from the storage cave.

CCC Cistern

As we approach the Cistern area we immediately see the water trough where most people stop and leave underwhelmed, believing this is the cistern. But we know from our research, that the cistern is actually found by walking down a path between the rocks on the right.

We spend a few hours exploring in and around this area and then head back to camp for lunch.

Whitney Pocket Hike

After lunch we decide to begin the Whitney Pocket Hike by heading north from camp toward Virgin Peak. The trail initially follows a 4×4 trail, then turns down and across a wash, meanders around some really interesting rock formations before going through Whitney Pocket. It then continues west to another smaller grouping of rocks; that has a small day use parking area and additional campsites before turning back toward our campsite. Along the way we see some very colorful rocks, dramatic rock layers, a few interesting formations that remind us of animals, and some really incredible views.

Nightscape

We spend the rest of the day relaxing around camp enjoying the weather and the scenery and that night we stargaze before setting up the GoPro to try a nightscape. It turned out pretty well for a first try and can be viewed by clicking here.

Falling Man, 21 Sheep, and Black Butte Dam Loop Trail

The next day we opt for a hike a few miles southwest of camp that has a very unique petroglyph of a falling man and a rock tunnel you have to go through to reach it. The trail also has many other areas with Petroglyphs and another dam.

Falling Man Trail

Our first two stops on the Falling Man Trail are Rabbit Ear Viewpoint and Calvin’s Rock where we find a few petroglyph panels, a couple of natural arches, an alcove, a small rock window, and layers of multi-colored rocks.

Further down the trail we find a rare pictograph (painting), the tunnel with a rare corn petroglyph (carving) outside, and once through we see the unique “falling man” glyph while climbing down the ledge on the other side.

We spend time exploring the amphitheater walls finding a few more petroglyph panels and as we come down from the amphitheater we find big horn sheep glyphs, very colorful rock walls, and the Big Foot glyph.

Rounding the bend we reach “Newspaper Rock”.

Leaving the Falling Man trail we cross the saddle with it’s incredible views west and south to pick up the trail leading to a large petroglyph wall known as “21 Sheep”.

21 Sheep

Upon reaching the wall, it does indeed have petroglyphs of 21 Big Horn Sheep as well as several other symbols carved into the wall.

Black Butte Dam

Next, we continue down the trail to Black Butte Dam. The dam was constructed by the CCC in the 1930’s to capture rainwater for ranchers. It’s been slowly filling with sediment; but does still hold a fair amount of water during wet years. We were fortunate enough to be here at the end of a wet year and the number and variety of animal tracks around the reservoir is astounding.

From here the trail was supposed to circle back up to the falling man trailhead on the other side of the wash. But, it became very clear that it hasn’t been used in a very long time because it is little more that an animal track which is very easily lost.

Sunset from Camp

Tonight we’re treated to a spectacular sunset while relaxing around camp.

Little Finland

Today we head down to an area known as “Little Finland”. It’s famous for very unique red rock formations that have been carved by the elements over centuries and are best photographed during sunrise or sunset. We choose to come here today because there’s a solar eclipse expected and we’re hoping it will give us the opportunity to get very unique lighting in a very short span of time.

Once we reach “Little Finland” we park at the old corral and begin following the trail.

Palm Canyon

Moving along the trail we find that a fence has been placed over the designated trail at the top of the palm lined canyon and a new trail has been carved along the fence line.

An Unexpected Fence

So, we follow the new trail along the fence line until it rejoins the original trail at the base of the canyon. Along the way we begin seeing some of the very unique rock formations this area is known for.

View From the Top

From here, we follow a road up a steep hill until we reach the top of the wall lining the canyon.

Unique Rock Formations

We turn the corner and go along the wall back toward the truck finding more and more unique sights.

Unexpected Petroglyphs

At one point we climb up on some of the rocks to get a view of the valley and see some desert varnish (black, hard coating on the rock that is derived from mineral dust in the air) that could contain petroglyphs. So, we carefully pick our way over the rocks, avoiding the varnished areas, and we find several panels containing rock art.

Chalk dusting?

Continuing down the path, we begin to see rocks that look like they’ve been dusted with chalk. But this white layer is more than just a dusting, it’s deeply embedded layers.

Once through this area the trail winds back along our original path to the truck.

Mud Wash Road Petroglyphs

Once back in the truck, we head along Mud Wash Road toward Devil’s Fire and see natural arches and more petroglyphs along the way.

Devil’s Fire

At Devil’s Fire we spend some time climbing the rocks until we found a great vantage point to get a good panorama view of the area.

We also see a few more natural arches.

Devil’s Throat

Our next stop is Devil’s Throat; which is a continually expanding sinkhole. It’s expanded so much over the past few years that they’ve had to push the fencing back a few hundred yards and there are a lot of warning signs to keep people from venturing near the unstable land around the edge.

On way back to camp we stop for a few pictures of the landscape.

Leaving Gold Butte NM

We received a call that our den (garage suite) is ready, which is fantastic; but it means we have to begin our journey home earlier than we wanted. There’s still so much to explore here. Let’s hope we don’t have damage like we had on the way in, so that we won’t mind attempting this long road again in the future.

We stop briefly for lunch in Mesquite, NV; and are very happy to report that we did not sustain any damage on the way out.

Next stop… unknown. Let’s see what we can find to explore on the way home.