Talk to me about White Pocket

Ben Egbert

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I will be ready for my annual hermit run by March. I am thinking of a trip to White pocket then Muley Point followed by strike Valley and lastly Skyline Overlook.

The avg low at White Pocket in March is 28 degrees which is manageable. I will probably spend one night at Kanab in a motel, and the rest camping as all my destinations are high clearance 4WD locations.

Do you have any comments or suggestions? I am not much interested in The wave.
 

MonikaC

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White Pocket has gotten so popular, that about 2 years ago I swore I would never go there again close to a weekend.
 

Ben Egbert

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Thanks this is good info. I will be ready for solitude by then and have choosing the time and places with that in mind
 

JimFox

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March is a time where the weather can be cold or warm. It might say 28 is the average low but you could also have lows in the 40's easily.

Have you not been to White Pocket before? I am trying to understand for sure what you are asking for.
 

Ben Egbert

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I have never been to White pocket before. I am just looking for general observations like you and Amy have provided. I have researched it a bit, watched some YouTube videos to see what it looked like, studied Google Maps to plot my route.

I am pretty sure my truck will be fine for this trip, even if I don't drop air pressure. I have a tire pump, but I don't trust it:confused:. It's for emergencies, not for airing down tires. I will get GPS coordinates for all the turns, plus a map etc.

No Jim, I am just looking for gotchas, things I might have overlooked like not going on a weekend.
 

JimFox

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Okay, gotcha Ben. I just wanted to make sure.

Depending on the route you take to White Pocket, there won't be any need to air down at all. I would need to look at a map to describe the route I use to get into there, but it's the Southern route that then takes you East with a left turn at a ranch to go North mainly for the rest of the way up to White Pocket. It's the longest of the possible routes by a mile or so, but it's the easiest. The route has some sand, but no real hills to speak of, so as long as you keep your speed up in the sandy sections you will be fine.

There is a parking area that's large enough for a dozen vehicles or so to camp and park. I have seen people setting up tents next to their vehicles, etc.. From the parking area, it's maybe a 1/3 mile or so on a well defined trail to the beginning of White Pocket. When you reach where the rocks begin (the trail is through a sandy desert area) if you go to the left (South) is where the tree with the "bowl" below it is. Going straight into White Pocket and to the right (NW) is where that famous swirl of candy is. In the main White Pocket area everything is pretty close in, you are talking an area that is less then a 1/2 mile in area that contains all of the main swirls and bowls you have seen in other photos. It's super easy to explore. To the South is an area that has a bunch more cool stuff, though not as cool as the main WP area. But worth hiking too, again it's not far. Also in White Pocket it has a definite Western Edge where it just stops and drops off into a desert area. you will see another grouping of rocks and such about 3/4's of mile off to the SSW. It's got a few fun rock formations to go and explore, but the real action is in that main area.

I have never been there with more then 3 or 4 cars in the parking area, with only 1 or 2 staying the night. Sometimes they all leave, especially if it's any of the small tour groups that can come in there from Kanab, they seem to all be gone before it gets too dark. So you can easily have the place to yourself for sunrise and sunset.

It's worth going, and even if there are a few others out there, usually everyone spreads out in there pretty well. And there are no spots where they have to be shot in one specific spot, other then the lone tree, so if 2 or 3 people decide to shoot the same swirl of candy for sunset it's easy to still spread out and not stand on each other.

That's it off the top of my head.
 

Jeffrey

Well-Known Member
I've been there once, Ben. I took the southern entry route to be safe. Yes there is a lot of sand, so keep moving at a good clip. The left turn off House Rock Rd is marked but you can't really read the sign from the road so you may need to get out and read it to be sure it is the right route number. It goes by a ranch (sort of) and you take the obvious road to the left and just stay on it. When you arrive there is a parking area to the left but I stayed on the sandy road another hundred yards (the road ends here) and had a nice sandstone bedrock area to camp, all alone. It's right on the edge of the formation area so you just walk in. Gee maybe I'll meet you there, I'm due for another visit.
 

Ben Egbert

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Thanks Jim, I had already seen in my research to take that route. The advice about the area and what it entails is also good. I plan to stay overnight in Kanab and drive in, spend the day and night and the next morning. Since I am only going to Muley point the next day, I have lots of time. I will be crossing at Halls crossing for the trip to Strike valley so I need to call ahead and make sure the ferry is running and what hours.

Hey Jeffrey, be glad to have your company, or anyone else from the forum. Thanks for the driving tips.

One other question, I have seen a lot of mid day images from here, even blue sky images, so it appears that it is not strictly a golden hour location.
 

JimFox

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This is a shoot all day location for the most part. And the reason is because the orange stripes and waves contrast very well with blue from the sky. A little bit of added polarizer to cut the reflections on the rocks can help, just don't over do it so you get that polarizer blob in the sky. :)

Yeah, I would be open to going out there too. I might be having a trip to the Philippines around then, but it's not for certain so it would depend on that and timing.

Will you be able to be flexible to go with the best weather conditions, or will you be locked into set dates?
 

Ben Egbert

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I will probably make reservations for a room at Kanab the week before, but I will be able to judge the weather by then. So yes, pretty flexible.

My other option was April if somebody here said Mar was not good. But April gets all the spring break crowd.
 

Ben Egbert

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For those of you who may have been thinking about a meet up, health issues force me to postpone this trip until April.
 
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