On The Wave

We dreamed about The Wave since we had seen its pictures somewhere on the internet. We did some research and what we learned blunt our enthusiasm. It's not so easy to get into The Wave (part of Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, North Coyote Buttes to be more specific), to be able to see it you need a permit and to get a permit you need luck, as there is a lottery.

Just 20 people a day get to see The Wave, ten of them from internet lottery. Internet lottery takes place 3 months in advance - we tried, we registered in December for April lottery. We selected 3 least popular dates (you can see online how many people registered for each day)  and we crossed our fingers on  January 1. We didn't get in. The other 10 people are drawn a day before in a walk-in lottery - we decided to come for a lottery as long as it takes (or at least for a week).

Preparations

We got up early in the morning to be in BLM office in Kanab at 8.30 am. In case you want to go there and you haven't checked earlier where the office is (like us) then here it is: going from north the office is at the very end of Kanab on your left, just behind Philips/66 gas station.

We weren't the only ones that got the idea to go to the Wave. There were over 80 people They draw groups, and on that day there were 36 in total. We filled in the questionnaire, we got a number - who would have thought - eight, and we froze in anticipation. Remembering about our bad luck when it comes to any kind of gambling we didn't have our hopes high. The lottery started, the bingo machine turned around, the first (out of three drawn on that day!) ball came out and...EIGHT!!! We made it!!! (Just to keep our luck busy we wanted to play Powerball, but we found out that in Utah, just like in Nevada, Powerball is illegal. And we were so close...;)

On our way

We met some people later that have been trying to get in for years, with no luck... Getting to the Wave gave us 5 minutes of fame. First, just after the drawing when most people congratulates, and some gives you evil eye (they're probably from Europe), and then on the parking lot at the trailhead, when we had the green tag with a permit  attached to our backpack. Almost everyone who was there know what it meant...

Together with other lucky people (a guy from Belgium who we later met on the trail with his wife and 4-year-old son) and Japanese family of three (who we later found out were really Korean-North Americans, daughter lives in California and parents in Canada) we stayed for some formalities and to listen to instructions. We heard about the weather (it was going to be hot and very windy), how much water we should take and drink (at least a gallon per person) and that we should watch out for rattlesnakes because they had been seen lately on the trail.

The trail itself is quite a challenge. There is no path, we got a map with pictures of some orientation points on the road and for most advanced travelers with coordinates and azimuths. Just in case, after we left BLM office we went to buy a compass...

Next day we got up at dawn (ok, who are we kidding, we got up at 8, we left at 10 and we were at the trailhead at noon). We packed lots of water (but less than a gallon per head) and food. From the parking to The Wave it's about 3 miles, so it's around 6 miles round trip. We walked around The Wave a little bit so for sure we did more. First the road leads through sand, than it goes on rocks, and then it's just rocks almost to the end, some of it up, some down the hill. 

Just before the Wave there is a steep part, which can be done up the hill on the rocks and down on the sand. The hike itself is very picturesque, red rocks in different shapes anywhere you look, sun is showing no mercy as there is little shade, wind is blowing sand in our eyes and throws our hats off our heads. It was amazing.

The Wave is not totally deserted but we can live with that. Even though we had a chance to meet only 16 people we bumped into ten. The beauty of it is so overwhelming that we didn't care that there were other people, besides most of people we met were on their way back so they saved us time we would spend looking for a right way.

When we got there it was difficult to believe our eyes. When you see the pics on internet you keep in mind Photoshop existence, it was cut here, pasted here, colors are probably enhanced. But no, The Wave looks exactly like the perfect place we imagined. It's tiny, there are a few rocks around, you can walk from one end to another in less than 2 minutes, but the view was worth the effort.

For a long while we had it all to ourselves. On the last few hundred yards we met the Belgian family heading back, far behind us were "Japaneses", much later we met two couples of photographers. You can get angry at BLM for limiting the access to The Wave so drastically, but once you're there it's hard to imagine being there with few hundreds of other people. Easy to say, once you were lucky…

  

Question is what will happen next. Some 5-10 years ago there were just a few dozens of people coming to the lottery during the season and outside of season sometimes there were less people than permits to give away. Not too many people in States knew about it, it was more popular among tourists from Europe and Asia. Now even 100 people a day during the season is no surprise, there was over 100 just two days before "our" lottery.

We're wondering what will happen next. Probably the pressure to make The Wave more available will be so strong that BLM will start organizing guided tours. And in 20 years there will be a paved trail with a view point from above (we even know where they'll build it). So it's worth trying to get there now!

It's probably not worth going there without a permit though. There are no guards patrolling the area with dogs and helicopters searching for illegal hikers with thermal sensors and cameras, it's not Texas. But there are rangers on the trail occasionally checking the permits. What's the penalty for trespassing? Few hundred dollars fine. But The Wave is a federal territory with limited accessibility, so trespassing is a serious federal felony, being subject to court ruling.

The Wave is only one of the attractions of North Coyote Buttes. Going to The Wave we've seen very intriguing rock formations like tent-hills or pyramid-hills. We didn't go much beyond The Wave. For Maciek and Kalina it would be just to much. Thanks to Marianne and her Frugal guide to southern Utah we know that going deeper into the wild  you can find some mini-Waves and other attractions like dinosaur traces, arches, alcoves, different and absolutely amazing colors of rocks. Just remember to head back before it gets dark, there are no permits for staying overnight in North Coyote Buttes. 

The way back took us less time, maybe because we knew (more or less) where to go, maybe because it was already around 5 pm so it wasn't so hot anymore. Just before the last part of the road, in the very middle of entrance to a sandy path we saw...a rattlesnake! It wasn't easy to spot as it was not very big and it blend into the background pretty well, but luckily we noticed it and we managed not to step on it.

We took a few quick steps back and we were looking at it crawling back and forth guarding the path, which was leading steep uphill from the bottom of dry riverbed so it wasn't really easy to go around it. We stood there for a while listening to its scary rattling. After all we found some patch of sand we could crawl up to our path and we rushed to the car looking carefully under our feet.

Maciek was super-brave. We were worried that this hike may be too long for him, especially that on much shorter trails he gets tired and cranky easily, plus last two days he had some virus which meant 48 hours of fever, but we were determined to see The Wave even if we had to carry him all the way. Luckily Maciek walk all day. Pawel carried him maybe a few minutes, on the way back on the sand, the part that even for us was really difficult after all day of walking. Last few minutes he was whining a bit but overall he really surprised us and we were very proud of him.

Kalina just looked around or slept. The only problem was that our picky eater on that very day decided to be even more picky than usually and forcing into here even a few sips of milk or water was a challenge. But we managed not to dehydrate her.

Here goes one practical tip in regards to food: when sitting on those smooth, rocky hills don't start repacking your backpack. Especially if you have a round fruit in it (maybe some rattlesnake will appreciate our apple, we recovered peach but it probably remembered for the last hour of its life those 100 meters downhill).

Maybe the real Utahans won't forgive us but at the end we have to be fair to Arizona. Even though The Wave is managed by Utah BLM, geographically it is in Arizona. State line is somewhere on the trail to The Wave. Not a big deal but we have to mention it, after all we like Arizona too.