Whipple Point is a Painted Desert overlook named for Lt. Amiel W. Whipple, leader of an expedition by the U.S. government. In 1853 Whipple led explorations for the first transcontinental railroad route to the Pacific Ocean, near the 35th parallel (which runs through this location). He was the first to document the petrified wood deposits of the Black Forest and named Lithodendron Creek (Wash). The view looks towards Pintado Point and Pilot Rock, both capped with the basalt Bidahochi Formation above the red Chinle Formation of the Painted Desert.