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View Full Version : Not any 4x4'in but my most recent trip...UT/AZ/NV backroads



Cody
02-26-2006, 07:07 PM
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
http://www.fototime.com/61FB54102223E22/standard.jpg

then went to camp. Here is the sunset from our camp. My POS little digital camera does no justice to the colors...
http://www.fototime.com/DF7AE2C1207E708/standard.jpg

went on a long hike the next day. one of the several slot canyons we found
http://www.fototime.com/C3BFF576344CE83/standard.jpg

another
http://www.fototime.com/A96976D34264921/standard.jpg

another cool little canyon
http://www.fototime.com/36D0ED76504FBF0/standard.jpg

this is where we decided we wanted to get to...
http://www.fototime.com/6186C68CE74DFEF/standard.jpg

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.
http://www.fototime.com/4399D2DDE3C1521/standard.jpg

Next day we explored some back roads. Found more petroglyphs...
http://www.fototime.com/D3A09C0D2354E38/standard.jpg

closer
http://www.fototime.com/74736B4E3EF6894/standard.jpg

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.

http://www.fototime.com/906C78DD6ACE05B/standard.jpg


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 align with 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

zj-monster
02-26-2006, 11:00 PM
Damn beautiful country man, awesome photos!!!

:best:

Deltron
02-26-2006, 11:12 PM
I hope you know how lucky you are you are to be able to go to a place like that, kickass pics

Nick
02-26-2006, 11:37 PM
that looks like that place where that guy got traped for 6 days or what ever and had to cut his own arm off

ELLLLLIOTTTTT
02-26-2006, 11:43 PM
awesome scenery... damn i need to get outta NC more.

Do you know how far back those petroglyphs date?

Cody
02-27-2006, 02:49 AM
that looks like that place where that guy got traped for 6 days or what ever and had to cut his own arm off

that was in Utah. Similar situation but different area.

I don't take it for granted. People think Utah is this crazy quirky place where religious finatics live with lots of wives. Only a mall portion of the pop is that (minus the plural wives), the rest live here to take advantage of the unparalleled landscape and scenery. I'm looking out of state for jobs, but I don't know if I could give it all up.

Cody

N2Deep
03-01-2006, 03:31 PM
Hey Cody that area is in my back yard. I live just down by Lake Mead that you could see. It called Moapa Valley (Overton/Logandale). There are a few good 4X4 trails in the Whitney pockets area and I could have pointed you to a couple, had I know you were going to be camping there. There is also a place called Logandale Trails that has a handful of cool off-roading trails- looks just like the red rock area you had a beer under.:D
Looks like you had a good time and if you ever venture back down south let me know and maybe we could hook up for a trail run or two.

Awesome pictures.

Cody
03-01-2006, 07:19 PM
cool man will do. I'm not sure my dodge would have been up for too much offroading. 7500 lb rock crawler isn't particularly nimble ;)

Cody