White Pocket tours

Do you need a tour to visit White Pocket?

No. Anyone may go, with no permit and no fee. You need a tour only if you lack a high-clearance 4x4 and the skill to drive deep sand.

The BLM's White Pocket trailhead page lists the fee as none and says four-wheel-drive high-clearance vehicles are required. It also says many groups get stuck or stranded every year, and that if you're unsure of your vehicle or your experience you should hire an authorized guide. The three tours below do exactly that job.

The maths is simple. A tour costs from $183 a head. A stuck rental with no phone signal costs a lot more, and the BLM's own map warns that rescue can take hours or even days.

Which White Pocket tour should you book?

The small-group tour from $183 for most people. The lunch tour if you want food sorted and a shorter day. The $430 day only if the other two are full.

All three start in Kanab, Utah, and all three go to the same rock. The listings differ in length, price and what the title promises:

Most of each day is driving: two hours or more each way from Kanab on pavement, dirt and sand, with a few hours on the rock between. The $430 listing is newer and costs more than twice the small-group day for the same length; check what its page includes before you pay the difference. For the pickup point, check the listing when you book.

Our pick: 8 hours, a small group, and a driver who does the sand while you watch the plateau go by.

★ 5.0 · 8 hours · from $183

Explore the small-group White Pocket tour → Tour details

How do I get to White Pocket on my own?

US-89 to House Rock Valley Road (BLM 1065), 23.5 miles south to BLM 1017, 6.2 miles east, then north on BLM 1087 and 1086 to the parking area. The last miles are deep sand.

The route from the BLM's White Pocket map, step by step:

1. To the dirt: from Kanab, US-89 east for 38 miles; from Page, US-89 west for 36 miles. Turn south onto House Rock Valley Road (BLM 1065).
2. House Rock Valley Road: 23.5 miles south, past the Wire Pass trailhead and Stateline Campground, to BLM 1017 across from an old livestock corral. Coming from the south, it is 9.3 miles north of US-89A, which you reach 13.5 miles east of Jacob Lake.
3. BLM 1017: east for 6.2 miles to Pine Tree Pocket Ranch. Sand starts in earnest.
4. BLM 1087, then 1086: north, keeping left where 1087 splits, to the White Pocket parking area. Walk about 100 yards west to the rock.
5. Gates: leave each one as you found it.

Load the route offline before you leave. Signs are few, side tracks are many, and the BLM rates some of the plateau roads Most Difficult.

What can go wrong driving to White Pocket?

Getting stuck in sand, getting stuck in mud after rain, a flat tire on sharp rock, or a breakdown with no phone signal. The BLM says you are on your own if it happens.

• Sand: deep and soft, worst in dry heat. Drivers lower tire pressure to get through, then need a compressor to reinflate.
• Rain: clay sections turn slick and some roads flood. The BLM says conditions change often; call the Arizona Strip office (435-688-3200) before you go.
• Rock: patches of sharp rock between sand. The BLM tells visitors to carry a full-size spare.
• No help: cell service is unreliable, and the BLM's page says that if you get lost, stuck or break down without a life-threatening emergency, sorting it out is your job.
• Your rental contract: many forbid unpaved roads. A stuck car outside the contract can mean paying for the tow and the damage yourself.

If you're new to sand driving, this is not the place to learn. Book a guided day and keep your own car on the pavement.

Does White Pocket need a permit or fee in 2026?

No. In October 2026 White Pocket has no permit, no fee and no daily cap. A 2024 BLM draft plan proposed a fee, and it had not taken effect when we checked.

In May 2024 the BLM published a draft business plan for the Paria Canyon-Coyote Buttes area and White Pocket. Comments closed on June 26, 2024. Reports on the draft (for example this summary) put the White Pocket proposal at $10 per person per day, with no lottery and no cap, and the Wave fee rising from $7 to $20.

Before any new fee starts, the plan goes to a Resource Advisory Council, the BLM State Director, then a notice in the Federal Register, and the fee starts six months after that notice. We found no such notice. The recreation.gov fees for The Wave and Paria Canyon were still the old ones in October 2026. Follow it in our fee proposal post.

What will you see at White Pocket?

A wide patch of swirled white, cream and red sandstone: brain-like domes, polygon cracks, layered folds and, after rain, pools that mirror the sky.

The rock is Navajo Sandstone, the same fossil dunes as The Wave, but twisted and bleached into shapes you won't find there. There is no trail. You walk from the parking area onto open slickrock and wander, which is why a guide helps: they know where the best folds and pools are and how to get back.

• The brain rock: white domes covered in a net of cracks.
• Red and white swirls: bands of color twisted through each other.
• Pools: after rain, shallow water pockets reflect the domes. The BLM asks you not to step in them: they hold rare plants and animals.
• Space: no crowds. No cap is needed because the road does the job.

When is the best time for a White Pocket tour?

Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November). Summer is hot on shadeless rock; winter is cold and the sand roads can freeze or flood.

The light on the swirls is best early and late, which matters more than the season for photos. Tours run most of the year, but rain can close the clay roads and a cancelled day is possible after storms. Book a spare day at the end of your stay if White Pocket is the priority.

In summer, take more water than seems sensible. The BLM's warning for The Wave applies here too: heat on bare sandstone kills. Winter changes are in our winter post.

Is White Pocket better than The Wave?

Different, and for many people better: it is bigger, has more variety and needs no lottery. The Wave has the famous stripes and a 6.4-mile hike.

The Wave is a single, perfect bowl of stripes. White Pocket is a wider playground of shapes, colors and pools. One is a permit lottery with 64 winners a day; the other is a drive anyone can make with the right vehicle. If you only have time for one and didn't win, you're not settling.

How the draw works, and how to try for both, is in our Wave permit guide. For everything else in the monument, see things to do at Vermilion Cliffs.

The sure thing: a small-group day on the swirls of White Pocket, no permit, from Kanab.

★ 5.0 · 8 hours · from $183

Explore the small-group White Pocket tour → Tour details

Frequently asked questions