The Wave might be the most epic place I have ever visited or will ever visit. I still can't believe Christy and I were lucky enough to make it there. The Wave is part of the North Coyote Buttes and is located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness in Northern Arizona and is only accessible by permit.
Only 20 people per day are given permits to visit this incredible place. You can get permits in one of two ways. First, you can apply online 4 months in advance for a chance for your name to be one of the 10 names drawn in the online lottery system. For the dates we applied, over 700 people had applied online so needless to say, our name wasn't drawn. The second option is, you can go in person to the Grand Escalate National Park Visitor Center in Kanab, Utah, which is about an hour west of The Wave, and enter the lottery for the remaining 10 permits. If they draw your name, your permit is valid for the following day.
During the 4 days we spent in Page, Arizona, there was only one day we could have gone to The Wave. So we drove one hour to the Grand Escalate Visitor Center in order to be there at 9am Utah time which was 8am Arizona time. On the day we went, about 150 other applicants were there. The room was packed and everyone was sharing stories of how long they had been applying for permits. Some people had been camped in Kanab for two weeks trying to get permits with no luck.
For the first several days of our trip, Christy had been assuring me over and over that we would for sure get permits. She kept saying, "we haven't been able to do anything on this trip since I'm 31 weeks pregnant and you have a 2 year old so the universe will work in our favor and we will get permits." I was telling Leon while we were waiting about how we were going to the Wave tomorrow and this lady overheard me and just laughed and said, "yeah right, you and the rest of us." But sure enough, when they finally drew numbers for the lottery, our number was called. We were so exited and Christy just kept saying, "I knew it, I knew they would call us."
The Park Rangers made sure to announce several times to the whole room and later to the 10 of us that got permits that we should only accept the permits if we were experienced hikers and in the appropriate shape to hike the strenuous 6 miles required. He told us stories of hikers who had died and continued to reinforce the skills necessary to get there. We were slightly worried given each of our respective conditions but we were determined to do it no matter what.
Once we got our permits, we arranged a Jeep rental so that we would have 4 wheel drive to get to the parking lot at the base of the hike. We were warned that we would have to drive through rivers and washed out roads to get there and would not make it without 4 wheel drive. This turned out to be somewhat of an exaggeration but either way we were happy to have 4 wheel drive. As we drove in the following morning, the landscape looked like something out of Jurassic Park. It was foggy and the contrast of the green foliage with the red clay soil was breathtaking. We saw tons of deer and felt like we were entering a really remote area.
They gave us only one map which had 6 pictures on it, 3 to guide us to the Wave, 3 to guide us back to the parking lot. They warned us that there were no trail markings or any other signs along the way so we needed to follow these photos as closely as we could.
If we thought the drive in looked like Jurassic Park, about a mile into the hike it looked like we were on Mars. I had never seen landscape like this before and it was just stunning. Most of the hikes I have been on, there are a reasonable amount of people walking each direction and a well defined trail so you don't feel lost in the wilderness. This was different. We felt stranded and alone in the most dessolate of places. But it was so beautiful so we kept going.
We were there in October which is really moderate weather for Arizona, but out on these rocks it was very hot. I cant imagine how people do this hike in the dead heat of summer. We brought lots of water and snacks because the Park Rangers scared us into thinking we could be stranded for days if we got lost.
Leon was such a trooper and "hiked" or basically walked really slowly, stopping to look at every rock, throw sand, and smell flowers as we went, but at least it saved me some from carrying him. The next mile and half I carried him on my chest and he napped until we were there. When we approached the Wave, we were in total disbelief by the colors and magnitude of the rocks. Since there were only 17 other people there, we made friends with some of them and sat and had our lunch. We stayed for several hours exploring the area, taking as many pictures as possible. Leon loved running up and down the Wave.
We left in the early afternoon so that we gave ourselves plenty of time to get back before it was dark (after having been totally freaked that we would be stranded all night). The hike back was filled with more magnificent views, but the photos on the map were not helpful in getting us back and it took us way longer than we anticipated. Thankfully, we had enough light left in the day to get out safely and back to our hotel for some really fancy Pizza Hut and a very early bed time.
I could look at the pictures from this day over and over and never get tired of seeing them. It was such an amazing experience and hopefully one day we can go back!
