Hauntings of the Arizona Strip
Categories: Arizona
Now, before someone gets too excited, I should point out that yes, most of the defining parts of our day were spend in Arizona. But our trip began in Nevada, so that’s why I’m starting off talking about Gold Butte.
The most visited part of Gold Butte National Monument is the Whitney Pockets area. In that vicinity are several roads that go to the old Gold Butte townsite, the Petroglyphs trails, Lime Canyon and Mud Wash. During the Great Depression a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established there and a stone dam was built along with some storage areas in rock alcoves.
The first several times I visited Gold Butte there were enough people around Whitney Pockets that I drove right on by. After seeing several of the other sites at the top of my list I decided to return one winter day to make a big loop around some of the Virgin Mountains and incorporating a stop at Whitney Pockets at the west end of that loop. After that we drove to, oddly enough, a place called Red Pockets, and then back over the mountains to Mesquite via Lime Kiln Canyon .
Maree checks out the CCC Dam
The top of the CCC Dam allowed passage up onto the higher rocks.
I was surprised I could keep climbing up higher and higher above the dam without much difficulty.
Eventually I made it to a hidden meadow.
From the meadow you could take several paths to other neat little areas.
Coming back down, the road curved just like the dam.
After we were done exploring the rock formations we took Whitney Pass road and took a detour to a place called Cabin Springs. We found no water or cabin but there was a nice view over a large swath of the rugged desert monument and Lake Mead beyond that. After crossing the pass we entered Arizona through Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument.
I only took this because it is the exit of the Grand Canyon. You can see a break in the distant cliffs and that is where the Colorado River flows out of the canyon and into Lake Mead. I had never seen the end of the Grand Canyon before.
The Homestead.
After a while the weather started getting back and we were driving through winter sand storms. As we made our way over low mountains of Whitney Pass it seemed to get even windier. After driving through nothingness for a long time I spotted something off in the distance and soon after that we passed a side road that led to an abandoned homestead. It looked haunted, and being in one of the most ridiculously barren places you could possibly decide to build a home, we decided to stretch our legs and take a look around.
The porch. The front yard had seemingly hand made furniture rotting in it.
Although the living room had no windows it still provided shelter from the wind and sand. We heard some things banging around somewhere in the house.
The bathroom.
The weird wallpaper. To me, it’s not the roosters in a “forest” of water damage that are the strange part of the wallpaper, it’s that someone decided they needed to add chickenwire to the whole scene. Some people apparently don’t think chickenwire is horribly ugly, and they want it in their house.
We traced the sound to the kitchen, where the wind was howling through the windows and banging the cabinet doors open and shut, just like in a horror movie.
No neighbors! NO HELP. Right behind me was a stone stairwell that led into a pitch black cellar.
This fence was definitely haunted.
The fence led to this creepy corral. The path to the corral was lined up with some distant rock pinnacles where they probably held rituals.
Although it was brilliantly sunny, the wind was cold and continued to blow clouds of stinging sand into our faces. You could tell how old the house was by the age of the trees growing next to it. At the bottom of the tall tree you can see that cellar I mentioned.Â
This road leads a very long way to the most remote parts of the Grand Canyon.
You know it’s windy when the mountains are blowing smoke rings! This happened several times and must have been like loop shaped tornados.Â