Gold Butte National Monument

National Monument (Bureau Of Land Management), Proclaimed 2016; Petroglyph Sites Such As Falling Man, The Red Sandstone Of Whitney Pockets And Little Finland · Mesquite, Nevada

Gold Butte National Monument is a large, remote block of Mojave Desert in the far south-east corner of Nevada, between the Virgin River near Mesquite, the Overton Arm of Lake Mead and the Arizona line. It was proclaimed in December 2016, is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is usually given as about 300,000 acres. Its draw is a mix found in few places: petroglyphs pecked into dark desert varnish by ancestral peoples, including the well-known Falling Man panel; fins, arches and pockets of red and cream sandstone at Whitney Pockets and Little Finland; bare granite and limestone ranges; Joshua trees; and the thin ruins of the Gold Butte mining camp. There is no visitor centre, no paved loop, no water, no fuel and almost no phone signal. The one main road starts paved and turns broken, washed out and rough, and the best sites beyond Whitney Pockets need high clearance or four-wheel drive. That keeps visitors few and the rock art quiet, and it makes this a place for prepared, self-sufficient travellers rather than a quick detour off the interstate from Las Vegas.

Gold Butte Backcountry Byway, Mesquite, Nevada, 89027, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: Gold Butte National Monument is open land with no gates, no hours and no closing time, and it is accessible every day and night, though the BLM can close roads after floods or for fire. There is no visitor centre inside; the BLM Las Vegas field office keeps weekday office hours only. The traps that ruin a day are starting too late and driving rough roads in the dark, entering in summer heat, trusting an old road report after a storm, running low on fuel or water after passing Mesquite, and pushing past Whitney Pockets in a low car. Confirm road conditions before relying on them.

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