{"id":4927,"date":"2018-04-01T14:20:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T14:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/aiken-mine-road-in-the-mojave-national-preserve-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-21T19:39:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T19:39:57","slug":"little-finland-gold-butte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.backroadswest.com\/blog\/little-finland-gold-butte\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Finland in Gold Butte"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Inside the newly created Gold Butte National Monument lies a very unique and little place called Little Finland.<\/strong>\u00a0 Big cities like San Francisco have places called Little Italy and L.A. has Little Tokyo, but why would a corner of the Nevada desert have a place named Little Finland?\u00a0 Well, it has nothing to do with the country of Finland, this small area in Gold Butte is literally a \u201cland of fins\u201d.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Trip Specs<\/h3> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Length<\/h3>\n
\n About 80 miles roundtrip\n(from I-15 freeway) <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Attractions<\/h3>\n
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  • Unique rock formations<\/li>\n
  • Colorful geology<\/li>\n
  • Remote desert scenery<\/li>\n
  • Petroglyphs<\/li>\n
  • Wildflowers in spring<\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    Difficulty<\/h3>\n
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    • 4WD, high clearance vehicle<\/li>\n
    • Deep sand in small sections<\/li>\n
    • Many gully crossings<\/li>\n
    • Deteriorating pavement, potholes<\/li>\n
    • Very remote area<\/li>\n
    • Spotty to no cell phone reception<\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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      Also known as Hobgoblin\u2019s Playground, Little Finland is a collection of bizarre, amazing, complex and intricate reddish\/orange rock formations that were gouged out of Aztec\/Navajo sandstone.\u00a0 These small formations are like nothing you\u2019ve seen before.\u00a0 Most of the formations are no bigger than an average-sized automobile and sit up 5-20 feet tall.\u00a0 Many formations have narrow fins and long protrusions sticking out of them and pointing in random directions.\u00a0 Then there are wild swirls of sandstone, which are petrified sand dunes from the Jurassic period (about 175 million years ago), heading every which way.\u00a0 Little Finland isn\u2019t very big; it covers just over a square mile.\u00a0 In our opinion, no other park or attraction in the USA has anything remotely close to Little Finland.\u00a0 One must wonder: how in the world were these things created?<\/p>

      Gold Butte is a national monument that was created at the end of 2016.\u00a0 Its primary purpose was to preserve a large collection of Native American rock art, swaths of pure Mojave Desert and Little Finland.\u00a0 It is quite remote, being sandwiched between Lake Mead to the west and south, the rugged Grand Canyon to the east and the I-15 corridor to the north.\u00a0 It lies 60 (crow-fly) miles east of Las Vegas and 25 miles south of Mesquite, Nevada.\u00a0 All of the sites of Gold Butte National Monument are accessed from a single 20-mile-long badly beat-up paved road.<\/p>

      Traveling around Gold Butte is a very remote experience.\u00a0 Because of its newly acquired national monument status, visitors to Gold Butte have recently increased significantly.\u00a0 However, you can very easily be the only person out there on the day you choose to visit, as we were on a recent Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 There is no cell-phone service.\u00a0 If your vehicle breaks down or gets stuck on the rough dirt roads, it may take a long time for you to get help.\u00a0 If you go, be prepared and using a high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicle is a must.<\/p>

      No words can describe the formations at Little Finland.\u00a0 Our virtual video tour below will give you an idea of the scenes to expect during your visit.\u00a0 Although we\u2019ve only explored the area about half a mile north of our parking spot, certainly if you spend more time exploring the whole area around Little Finland, more stunning scenery will be found.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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      Pictures<\/h3>

      Below are some pictures of what you will see along the way.<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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