Last weekend for presidents day we decided to get the hell away from people--and we succeeded! My roommate knew of a place south of Mesquite and east of Mead/Valley of Fire called the Whitney Pockets. It's these mounds of rock--similar to lil moab except bigger and lots more of them--out in the middle of nowhere. Really desolate, really scenic. Tons of petroglyphs and slot canyons everywhere and constantly a feeling that you were the only person that has been there in centuries. Here are some pics....
first night we stayed in the Cedar Pocket area of the Virgin River canyon. Pretty cool
then went to camp. Here is the sunset from our camp. My POS little digital camera does no justice to the colors...
went on a long hike the next day. one of the several slot canyons we found
another
another cool little canyon
this is where we decided we wanted to get to...
we had to descend this (much worse than the picture makes it seem) to get there. The dogs didn't make it down so our group split in two.
Next day we explored some back roads. Found more petroglyphs...
closer
There is a dirt road that goes from west of Mesquite all the way around into St. George. Apprx 100 miles. I think it would be cool to explore. We only got about 20 miles in before we headed out to the freeway. Here is a shot from the top of the pass where you can see the pockets (little patches of rock) and Lake Mead etc.
Other cool things. When we made it out to that red rock formation we sat and had a beer underneath a petroglyph panel. We found tons of little arrow head pieces laying around. You could probably count on two hands the number of people that had been to that spot since the indians were there. As we walked accross the valley (very desolate) towards that location, there were quite a few ATV tracks criss-crossing around. I couldn't help but feel frustrated that they couldn't have the self control to stay on the roads--deffinately see the other side of the coin.
On a side note, one of the other guys with us (there were only 4 of us) was a SUWA lobbyist! Really cool down to earth guy and the funny thing is, he hasn't done a thing for SUWA in over a year, but they still pay him to go to Washington to lobby every year. He goes because "it's a kick ass party in DC". Frustrating that they have to find people that don't even fully prescribe to their views to go and lobby in washington. You'd think that if they had so many avid supporters, finding people to take a week off to go fight for their cause would be easier--instead they bring people that are enticed because it's a good time and don't fully agree with the organization. We had many the camp-fire conversations about land use and management.
Cody
first night we stayed in the Cedar Pocket area of the Virgin River canyon. Pretty cool
then went to camp. Here is the sunset from our camp. My POS little digital camera does no justice to the colors...
went on a long hike the next day. one of the several slot canyons we found
another
another cool little canyon
this is where we decided we wanted to get to...
we had to descend this (much worse than the picture makes it seem) to get there. The dogs didn't make it down so our group split in two.
Next day we explored some back roads. Found more petroglyphs...
closer
There is a dirt road that goes from west of Mesquite all the way around into St. George. Apprx 100 miles. I think it would be cool to explore. We only got about 20 miles in before we headed out to the freeway. Here is a shot from the top of the pass where you can see the pockets (little patches of rock) and Lake Mead etc.
Other cool things. When we made it out to that red rock formation we sat and had a beer underneath a petroglyph panel. We found tons of little arrow head pieces laying around. You could probably count on two hands the number of people that had been to that spot since the indians were there. As we walked accross the valley (very desolate) towards that location, there were quite a few ATV tracks criss-crossing around. I couldn't help but feel frustrated that they couldn't have the self control to stay on the roads--deffinately see the other side of the coin.
On a side note, one of the other guys with us (there were only 4 of us) was a SUWA lobbyist! Really cool down to earth guy and the funny thing is, he hasn't done a thing for SUWA in over a year, but they still pay him to go to Washington to lobby every year. He goes because "it's a kick ass party in DC". Frustrating that they have to find people that don't even fully prescribe to their views to go and lobby in washington. You'd think that if they had so many avid supporters, finding people to take a week off to go fight for their cause would be easier--instead they bring people that are enticed because it's a good time and don't fully agree with the organization. We had many the camp-fire conversations about land use and management.
Cody
looks like a bad place to be in a rainstorm (slots) 
