Last Monday we got to check another item off our bucket list. We were able to hike The Wave in Paria Canyon/Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness on the border of Utah and Arizona. We literally had to win the lottery to hike The Wave. Only 20 people are allowed to hike each day with 10 permits issued online four months in advance and 10 permits issued the day before in person in Kanab.
I entered the online lottery for three or four months before my name was finally drawn back in November. I had entered for four spots so we were able to invite my brother Jeff and his girlfriend Melissa to join us. The drove up from Phoenix the night before with Jeff's dog Diesel. After breakfast at the hotel, a quick stop at the grocery store for supplies and and filling up with gas we drove east on highway 89 for 34 miles. We exited on House Rock Valley Road a dirt road and traveled 8.4 miles south to the Wire Pass Trail head.
When we started the hike it was quite cold but we had the gear we needed to stay warm. We started out walking about a quarter of a mile in a wash and then took the trail up into a sandy area. Overall the trail was much more difficult than I imagined. We alternated between sand and red rock and continually alternated between uphill sections and downhill sections. I had decided to wear my Sorel hiking boots since it was so cold at the start of the hike...one benefit of these boots was that they didn't have any sand in them. We had a map with pictures of landmarks that we were supposed to follow since the trail is unmarked. I quickly handed the map over to Seth and he became our navigator.
The red rock formations were spectacular.
Phin was a very content hiker and loved being along for the ride.
The picture below is of the sandy hill just before we entered the wave. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to reach this point.
Once we got to the top of the sandy hill we were awarded with amazing views of The Wave.
We stopped in a little slot canyon near the beginning of The Wave for lunch. The wind would whip through the canyon and blow the sand...so we literally had some "sand"wiches for lunch.
By the time we finished lunch the sun had come out to greet us...perfect timing.
I loaded Phin on my back for our walk around the wave which left Seth fairly free to take pictures and to climb to his heart's content.
Jeff on top of the main butte.
I remembered that I had a smaller camera in my pack so I took it out and got some shots of Seth on a butte on the left of the pictures below.
I also got one of Jeff on a butte.
Then I got a few shots of Phin and myself.
After exploring for a while we decided to get a picture of Phin...unfortunately his blue coat makes him a little unstable and after one face plant on the red rocks we took the coat off and were able to get some great photos.
I often call Phin my outside boy...he would be content to be outside all day. This trip made us very excited for Spring.
I believe this is the only photo of all five of us.
We loaded Phin back up and put his sunshade on and hit the trail back to the car.
Phin had a harder time falling asleep on the way back.
I even tried to set up a blanket as a headrest...but it didn't work.
When we took him down to read adjust him he decided it would just be easier to wake up. Peek-a-boo.
On the way back to the car it started to rain pretty hard. We were a little worried that we would get stuck on the dirt road so we were hiking pretty quickly. Phin was very protected by his sunshade and didn't seem to mind the extra moisture. We made it back to the car and to the highway without incident. Jeff and Melissa headed back to Arizona and we headed back to Kanab for one more night. We had an amazing day and are very grateful that we were able to enjoy The Wave. Most of the other hikers we ran into were International Visitors...which makes us think that The Wave is right up there as a natural wonder of the world.
