Gold Butte Backcountry Byway

Gold Butte National Monument sees a fraction of the traffic its Utah neighbors get. The byway leaves Riverside/Bunkerville on 20 miles of broken pavement to Whitney Pockets' red sandstone, then loops on sandy, rocky two-track past Devils Throat sinkhole, Little Finland's rock fins, and panels of petroglyphs at Falling Man and Twenty-One Goats. Joshua trees, mining ruins, zero services. Nearest fuel is Mesquite. Dispersed camping at Whitney Pockets is the classic basecamp. October–April; summer is brutal. Sandy washes firm up after rain but the clay sections don't.