The White Rocks are about three miles North of Churchwell in South Central Utah. Churchwell is a small community (shown as a trailer park on the topo map) at milepost 13 on Highway 89.
The White Rocks have two sections, the Upper White Rocks, and the Lower White Rocks. The Lower White Rocks are accessible from Churchwell, and the Upper White Rocks can be reached from Churchwell, or vi Cottonwood Canyon Road and BLM 431. Both White Rock areas are close to each other but there is a cliff between them. This makes it difficult but not impossible to traverse from one to the other. To see both areas you should plan on at least two days. Some recent (within the last few years) road closures make access to the White Rocks considerably more difficult than it was in the past.
I have only been to the Upper White Rocks so I will concentrate on the route to this area. There are three good locations in the Upper White Rocks: the "Twisted Hoodoo" area, "Colorful Canyon", and "Sidestep Canyon". All three areas can be reached via two different routes, one of which is officially closed now.
Old route - This is the route given in Laurent Martres' excellent book "Photographing the Southwest: Volume 1 - Southern Utah. Take Highway 89 to Cottonwood Canyon Road (mile marker 17.7). Go North on Cottonwood Canyon Road 1.4 miles and turn right onto BLM 431. After 3.9 miles on BLM 431 bear right, there is a sign that says "Administrative Road". It is my understanding that an Administrative Road is closed for all but administrative and other permitted uses. In the map below this closed section is in "Red". If you go to the White Rocks via this road you may be subject to a fine should you encounter a BLM law enforcement ranger. Take this road at your own risk. Continue 4.0 miles on BLM 431 till you reach a small jeep road on the right going South. To get to Twisted Hoodoo continue on this road .7 miles till just before a very small hill with a rock outcrop, park there. Twisted Hoodoo is in the canyon a few hundred yards east of where you parked. To get to either Colorful Canyon or Sidestep Canyon after visiting Twisted Hoodoo continue on the jeep road another .5 miles, there is a flat area on the left where you can park just before the road goes downhill. You can also park on the right side of the road. Colorful Canyon is just a few yards from the left (West) side of the road, and Sidestep Canyon is a few hundred yards to the east. Note - this route also provides excellent access to the "Tower of Silence" which is only a two mile RT hike from the trailhead at the end of the road. See the map below for directions.
Recommended Route - Legal access via an easy hike is available via BLM 435. BLM 435 is signed and starts on "Wells Street" in Churchwell. BLM 435 is a 4WD road. It used to end a short distance from the Lower White Rocks. BLM 435 now ends .2 miles beyond the reservoir shown on the map below. If you wish to access the Lower White Rocks you will now need to hike two miles north following the wash at the roads end. In addition to providing access to the Lower White Rocks BLM 435 also can be used to access the Upper White Rocks via an easy hike. To get to the Upper White Rocks take BLM 435 and park just before the reservoir. There is a canyon running ENE from the reservoir. Take the small cattle trail (or perhaps an old two track?) running up the hill paralleling the right side of the canyon. Continue a bit less than one mile till you can easily cross to the other side of the canyon and do so. Then turn slightly left (head NNE) and continue for a bit over a mile on the flat trailless terrain to reach the parking area for Colorful Canyon and Sidestep Canyon. The total hike is only about two miles (one way) and is fairly easy. A large portion of the hike is off trail. You should know how to use a Compass/GPS before attempting it. The route is shown in Lavender on the map below and can be easily downloaded as a KML file and converted to a GPX file using GPSBabel. Most GPS's can import GPX files. When I did this hike (September 2011) I had to add on an extra .5 miles each way since BLM 435 was washed out where it crosses Coyote Creek. To get to the "trailhead" I walked up BLM 435 to the reservoir before beginning my hike.
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Both Colorful Canyon and the Twisted Hoodoo area open to the West / SW and get excellent light at sunset. The best photographs of Colorful Canyon should be right at sunset. Twisted Hoodoo itself goes into shadow an hour or so before sunset . Twisted Hoodoo's best sides are the south and east sides so sunrise works well too. There are cliffs to the east of Twisted Hoodoo so you need not be there right at sunrise. Most of the photos in the gallery were taken about an hour or so after sunrise. With the closure of BLM 431 it is difficult to photograph the Upper White Rocks at sunrise/sunset if you are not comfortable hiking in low light.
Sidestep canyon opens to the east and should get its best light at sunrise. Sidestep Canyon is very convoluted and it is difficult to descend into it. If you plan to shoot Sidestep seriously you should explore it the previous day. I've only been to Sidestep briefly and found it very difficult to shoot. That said, I plan to return in the future and camp overnight.
BLM 431 also provides access to the "Tower of Silence" in Wahweap Creek. The Tower of Silence is photographed best during the summer months a bit after sunrise when the cliffs behind it go into shadow.
This page was last updated 10/9/2011