Wolf Hole

Overview

A post office in the sagebrush

Wolf Hole sits in a broad valley in the Arizona Strip region of Mohave County, 19 miles south of the Utah line on the gravel road from St. George toward Mount Trumbull. Wolf Hole Mountain rises to the northwest, and a shallow lake bed, Wolf Hole Lake, lies just east of the site. It was a small ranching and farming community, and the written record is thin. Wikipedia and an undated listing give it a post office from 1918 to 1927. The Washington County Historical Society, across the line in Utah, says 1917 to 1928.

An undated listing credits John Wesley Powell with the name and says he apparently mistranslated a Paiute name meaning Coyote Spring. We haven't found that in a second source. Wikipedia adds, without a citation, that the writer Edward Abbey sometimes claimed to live in Wolf Hole.

What's left is modest. An undated listing names one house and some foundations, and Wikipedia says the same. The 1979 USGS map marks the spot "Wolf Hole (Site)" with a corral, a water tank and two small buildings beside the road. In August 2018 Ken and Jean Brown's family put up a painted Wolf Hole sign here, according to the historical society, which also filmed Ken Brown talking about the place.

Timeline

What we know

1. 1886The first USGS map of the area shows an empty valley here, with the nearest named spring well to the west.
2. 1917 or 1918A post office opens. Wikipedia and an undated listing give 1918; the Washington County Historical Society in Utah gives 1917.
3. 1927 or 1928The post office closes. Again the sources differ by a year.
4. 1953–1960USGS maps show Wolf Hole Lake, Wolf Hole Mountain and the roads, but no settlement name.
5. 1979The USGS 1:24,000 map marks "Wolf Hole (Site)" with a corral, a water tank and two small buildings by the road.
6. 1987The USGS Littlefield map labels Wolf Hole with its corral and water tank, and Wolf Hole Spring with another corral about 2.5 miles west.
7. Aug 18, 2018Ken and Jean Brown's family put up a Wolf Hole sign that Jean painted. The historical society records Ken Brown talking about the place that day.

Site map

Where the settlement stood

County Road 5 runs north and south through the site. On the 1979 map, the label "Wolf Hole (Site)" sits just east of the road, with the corral and water tank a little south of it and two small buildings by a benchmark of 5,003 feet at a road junction. The historical society's coordinates fall at that junction, about a quarter mile south of the GNIS point we use. Wolf Hole Lake, an intermittent lake, spreads east of the road. The historic maps below also show Wolf Hole Spring, with its own corral, about 2.5 miles west.

We haven't been able to confirm which of the structures still stand, or whether the 2018 sign is still up.

• Derelict house
• Foundations
• Corral
• Water tank
• Wolf Hole Lake (intermittent)
• Wolf Hole sign (2018)

Historic maps

Wolf Hole on USGS maps, 1886–1987

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18861:250,00019531:250,00019601:250,00019791:24,00019871:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

St. George, Utah, is the closest city. From its south side, River Road runs to the Arizona line and becomes The Plateau Passage, signed County Road 5 and BLM Road 1069, the gravel road toward Mount Trumbull. Wolf Hole is 19 miles down it. The routing service assumes a walking pace on those gravel miles, so its time estimates below are far too long. We haven't driven the road and can't give a better figure.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Have photos of Wolf Hole?

We haven’t added more photographs of Wolf Hole yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

The Washington County Historical Society has photographs of the site and its 2018 sign.

Visitor reports

Been to Wolf Hole?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

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Nearby

Other sites near Wolf Hole

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arizona index.

• Bundyville27.2 mi SE · Mohave
• Tuweep35.9 mi SE · Mohave
• Cyclopic78.0 mi SW · Mohave
• House Rock83.2 mi E · Coconino
• White Hills85.1 mi SW · Mohave
• Apex94.7 mi SE · Coconino
• Anita95.5 mi SE · Coconino
• Hackberry96.8 mi S · Mohave

Sources

Sources and credits

1. ghosttowns.com, "Wolf Hole": fact sheet fields (roads, legal description, climate, best time, remains), post office years and the Powell name story.
2. Wikipedia, "Wolf Hole, Arizona", retrieved October 2026: post office years, remains, the Edward Abbey note, coordinates (GNIS 13955).
3. Washington County Historical Society (Utah), "Wolf Hole" and its photo records WCHS-04015, 04016 and 04058: location on BLM Road 1069, post office years, the August 2018 sign and video.
4. USGS topographic maps: Mt Trumbull 1:250,000 (1886), Grand Canyon 1:250,000 (1953, 1960), Wolf Hole Mtn East 1:24,000 (1979), Littlefield 1:100,000 (1987). Nearby feature names: USGS GNIS.
5. Land status: BLM Surface Management Agency map (small scale). Township and section: BLM PLSS (CadNSDI). Road surface: OpenStreetMap, October 2026.
6. Bureau of Land Management, "Arizona Strip Field Office", as of October 2026: office address, hours and phone, the Strip's remoteness and unpaved road mileage, permits listed only for Coyote Buttes.
7. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• "Wolf Hole (Site)" on the 1979 USGS Wolf Hole Mtn East sheet, with the corral and water tank by the road: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Mt Trumbull 1886, 1:250,000; Grand Canyon 1953, 1:250,000; Grand Canyon 1960, 1:250,000; Wolf Hole Mtn East 1979, 1:24,000; Littlefield 1987, 1:100,000.