Whitney Wash (Gold Butte NM) - 1/14/19

Redstone Outcropping in Whitney Wash

Whitney Wash (from Top Down)

Route begins to the left of these rocks. (Virgin Peak Beyond)

Route finds this trail down into the wash.

 With rain and snow in the forecast for Las Vegas, two club members headed back up to Gold Butte National Monument for more exploring. Whitney Wash has flown under the radar for the club and it was time to enter within! Rita and I made the drive up I-15 to Exit #112, crossed the Virgin River and turned right onto Gold Butte Road. The following 30 minutes of slalom driving brought us twenty miles to Whitney Pocket where the holey pavement turns to dirt. There is a fork in the road here. Instead of going straight on New Gold Butte Road, we took the left fork onto Arizona Road and drove almost a half mile to a campsite area on the left ... with a toilet!

Entering Whitney Wash

 BTW, the toilet had just been cleaned and it was shiny, bright and smellin' good! Just sayin'. We parked here and headed north.

Steep Walls at Narrows formed from, perhaps, Volcanic Ash

 There is a vague trail that drops into a wash, circles around the west point of the big beautiful rock outcropping behind the trailhead and crosses another wash. If you don't see the trail, just go straight for the entrance of the canyon narrows in front of you.

Rounding corner in Wash

Redstone Crops Up!

 The route crosses a flat area then, when you are nearing the rocks on the right above the deep wash on your left, you will see a trail that "hangs" above the wash and leads down into Whitney Wash. Be careful here! A slip off the trail into the wash would not be good. (An alternate would be to go further down the wash and enter at a place that is not so steep.) Now, in the wash, we entered into the narrows that curves around into an area that is much larger than I expected! Full of color and intrigue! It is a wild place! We did see human footsteps from a single person but we also saw coyote and bobcat prints. No burro prints!

Whitney Wash lined with Redstone

 Geographically, Whitney Wash sandstone runs along the same "vein" as Amber Cat Canyon and the Falling Man petroglyph area. Therefore, it is no surprise that red sandstone appeared in the bedrock of the wash soon after the entrance.

Nearing the Amphitheater (Western Amphitheater Behind)

 The high walls on the right around the entrance of the wash were unusual in appearance. We wondered what created the designs in the rock. It is suggested that the designs may be formed from volcanic ash.

Waterslide entering Side Wash (Northern Amphitheater Behind)

Eastern Portion of the Amphitheater

 We passed an old rancher's fence on the left of the wash and saw the old mining road up on the hillside to the right. I suggest you take the wash since this road doesn't go anywhere by the looks of it. As we hiked, the wash widened and the sandstone bedrock made the climb easier. There is very little brush in the lower part of the wash so it was very pleasant to hike up the center. Next, we were passing a huge red sandstone rock outcropping on the left as seen in the first photo. After this, we entered into the bottom of the amphitheater setting and saw a lot of red rock all around. We chose an area of the canyon to head towards thinking it was the easiest way to climb nearest to the rimrock. Our first turn out of the main wash that curved around to the right was a left onto a large waterslide.

Dropping off of Today's High Point

 The waterslide had a large pothole near the bottom with a tunnel outlet. Up the waterslide, we chose the widest wash to start up and quickly decided to climb up onto the right bank. Soon, we decided to change to the left bank! Just wandering.

View toward Wash Entrance (Mica & Jumbo Pks. & Tramp Ridge Beyond L-R)

 The wash next to us was deep and curvy, a wash we later chose to descend. But, first, we climbed up along the left bank until we came to an overlook. At the overlook, we saw that the climb in front of us needed more research and decided to take our break.

We found an old dam in a side wash!

Wiggling down through a Narrow Side Wash

Up on the rim of the amphitheater, there is an old road that provides an overall view of Whitney Wash. It would be nice to find a way that was not too dangerous to make a loop hike of around 6 miles using the wash below and the road above. More research needed!

 After having ascended the small ridge, we chose to try descending the original side wash. We ran into some brush on the way down and had to climb up on the bank to get around. Back in the wash, we came upon one of those surprise treasures! An old dam (seen in the photo above). It still held back a load of sediment that had been deposited over the years. We were curious for what it had been built. Cows?

Southwestern Portion of Amphitheater

 It was difficult to imagine cows being up here in these small scrambly washes. Perhaps the dam was built to accommodate someone's bath tub needs!

Layers of Redstone "Upcropping!"

 Regardless, we passed through and continued down the wash until we hit more brush and climbed up on a narrow ridge to the side. A fun balance down the ridge took us back near the waterslide. From here, we retraced our steps all the way down the wash.

Nearing the Exit Narrows of Whitney Wash

Trail Out

 Finding the precarious trail (as seen in the photo to the left) out of the wash, we exited and followed the straight vague trail back to the trailhead. Next, we drove back down the road 0.2 miles to the legendary Whitney Pocket Dam site and got out to take a look see. I haven't visited this dam since the first time I visited Gold Butte back in November 2007. Still the same. A nice bit of engineering! This was a great day of exploring then we returned to a rainy and snowy day in Las Vegas.

3.6 miles; 800 feet elevation gain; 2.75 hours; average moving speed 1.4 mph

Whitney Wash flowing out toward Gold Butte Road

Arriving at the Trailhead

Whitney Pocket Dam Visit

Trough that used Water Piped in from the Dammed Pocket

Elaborate Whitney Pocket Dam