We really tried to get an early start, or at least earlier than usual. Yet it’s an 1 1/2 hour drive from Kanab to the Wire Pass Trailhead, Utah is an hour later than Arizona, and it’s my day off. But Bill and I were determined to hike to The Wave.
When you receive one of the 20 permits issued daily to enter Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness you go through an orientation with a BLM Ranger that takes place in the Kanab Visitor Center. This includes a safety talk and a map with photos directing you to The Wave. Bill volunteers with BLM and patrols the area that includes Coyote Buttes North and took me in for an unofficial orientation. We were given the map and he wanted me to lead the way in by their method as I’d never been there before. So I was there for safety and to test the material for ease of use. Which I did and found it easy to identify the landmarks.
The 8 mile drive from SR89 on the gravel House Rock Valley Road, BLM Rd 1065, is a delight winding past the Cockscomb to the Wire Pass Trailhead. However, 4×4 with high clearance is suggested and after rain or snow the road may be impassable. For us it was in decent shape except for the Buckskin crossing which was a deep damp dip that Bill’s 4×4 handled with ease.
We started from the Wire Pass Trailhead 1/2 mile down Coyote Wash to the Coyote Buttes North trail, an easy walk with collared lizard pointers along the way.
Up a hill and across a sandy plain I looked for the first landmark of a sandstone ridge with a small saddle.
From there we walked across slick rock making our own path. That’s nice because of the reduced impact from a specified trail.
Once we crossed the saddle the Teepees could be seen in the far distance as our next landmark (far horizon just right of center). The entire landscape beckoned me to wander into.
Yet it was equally important to look behind and note landmarks for the return hike.
We followed at the base of a sandstone cliff on our right as instructed.
The next landmark was Twin Buttes which we hiked to the right of.
Surrounded by Navajo Sandstone, 200 million year old sand dunes, with surreal swirls of sandstone in multicolored hues of red, pink, orange, maroon, white and yellow displayed the cross patterns of bedding planes. The spectacular ribbons of various colors called Liesegang bands, were formed by movement and precipitation of oxidizing minerals such as iron and manganese by ground water. Thin veins of calcite cut across the sandstone, adding another dimension to the landscape. Everything around us was breathtaking.
Coming down from Twin Buttes the landscape spread out in front of us.
Next the vertical crevice in the white formation in the distance was a long-range navigation point. The Wave is located just beneath this crevice.
More gorgeous sandstone everywhere along the way. By now we’d crossed from Utah into Arizona, I’d taken 100s of photos and had to use a second 16GB mem card.
Finally we could see the gap between two small sand dunes we needed to climb and people in The Wave far away. Well we could see it through the zoom lens anyway.
But we still had to cross Sand Cove Wash to the base of a steep sandy hill.
What an amazing view from where we’d hiked. And I led us there without getting lost.
We’d left Wire Pass Trailhead at 9:15am and arrived at The Wave around 11:45. It was a hot 3.2 mile hike with limited shade. One large lovely willow in Sand Cove Wash provided us respite before the last big climb to The Wave.
This was and continues to be one of my top three favorite hikes of all time. In addition to the sheer knock-out beauty of the place, it was made that much more special by the fact that I found it by myself without trail markers or any kind of worn path,,,solely navigating by the photos of landmarks given. I get a sense of that all over again from reading your post, what a great adventure it was, and an accomplishment to arrive at such a hidden location navigating by landmark only. If course, I tripped and fell into a cholla on my way out, but I still loved it. 😉 Thanks for taking me back…
I was constantly blown away by the beauty of this landscape and want to return, not necessarily for The Wave. I too felt accomplishment finding the photo landmarks. Bummer about the cholla fall. Hope you left the spines behind.
What an absolutely stunning place. And wonderful to be the “Beta tester” for the map … Of course you are an expert outdoorswoman, so of course you did it right!! (But I expect only experts should attempt this fabulous hike. Since I’m not and will never be, I really appreciate your sharing . I’m in awe.
Just wait until you see the actual Wave.
This looks like a spectacular hike, but I see that you’d have to be oriented both in the direction you’re heading and in the direction you just passed through. It looks like a grand adventure. I have friends who have hiked the Wave but I’ve never been there. Can’t wait to see the Wave photos! These are fabulous.
Without an actual trail to follow the landscape requires strict attention.
So glad you finally got to hike to the Wave. It was a bit challenging finding our way there, but we had a much harder time coming back. Still one of our all-time favorite hikes.
Look forward to the rest of your photos!
It was awesome and I look forward to going again.
So interesting that they limit access and that they don’t have an established trail to limit impact. Plus the visual markers they give you on the way. Do they also give you the gps coordinates if you ask?
Such a beautiful place though and so I can see why they do that.
It’s actually better that there is no specific trail to reduce impact. There are GPS coordinates on the map which we didn’t use. I can’t wait to go back.
Awesome. I’ve seen thousands of pictures of the wave but never any of the trail leading up to it. It’s more rugged and dramatic than I’d expected. Fantastic post, and quite a tease leaving us just short of the target.
The route to The Wave is as awesome as the feature itself. I promise to post the rest soon.
I didn’t realize that there is such a hike getting to the actual Wave, although it makes sense because it’s so well hidden. What beautiful country that is. Your photos are stunning as always. Love the little lizard “marker” 🙂 Using natural landmarks to follow the “trail” is pretty exciting.
I am so looking forward to your pics of the Wave, tho the ones you posted here are terrific. Hope to do this for sure!
I’ll post The Wave pics soon. So much playing and so little time.
Beautiful! One day maybe we will make this hike. Can’t wait to see your next group of pictures.
Thank you. I hope you do get to do this hike.