Hiking The Wave

From the bureau of land management's website "Before highways and railways, before pioneers, even before Columbus.....the land we know as the United States was truly a vast wilderness. To protect these last remaining areas, in 1984 Congress created the Paria Canyon - Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. Coyote Buttes' outstanding scenery, desert wildlife, colorful history, and opportunities for primitive recreation will remain free from the influence of man and are protected in this condition for future generations. Its 112,500 acres beckon adventurers who yearn for solitude, scenic splendor, and the chance to explore one of the most beautiful geologic formations in the world."

 

I had heard about "The Wave",it's ruggedness, it's isolation and it's beauty on a solo hiking trip to Utah over thanksgiving of 2010. When I came back home I applied for a hiking permit to the wave for April of the following year with the BLM. I had to provide two weekends that I would like the pass for, keep my fingers crossed and hope that I might win one of the passes for two in their lottery drawing. I won the pass on January 1st of 2011 and I thought to myself what a brilliant start to 2011. I had won two of the twenty slots available daily, but most importantly I had won two of the ten that were available online.

Russell and I read extensively about the area as it's quite isolated, unpaved, with no visible pointers or markers even to the road that takes you to the trail head. Hiking in Coyote Buttes where the wave is located meant walking in sand and on sandstone, here the terrain is rarely level and there is no trail.A few weeks before we were to set out we received our permits and a trail map which was a picture map of the different landmarks we needed to use to find our way to the wave. This map contained pictures of the mesas and plateaus and mountains we had to use to find our way to the Wave and back.

Finally the day of our trip arrived, and we drove our SUV over an unpaved, unmarked gulley to our designated trailhead. We were prepared for the desert sun and carried enough water and high energy snacks and set off towards the horizon with the map as our guide. The day started pleasant enough, we hiked through dried washes, and sandstone hills and plateaus. We were prepared for the sun but what we weren't prepared for was the wind and the subsequent sand storms. The geology of "The Wave" is created by wind erosion, and the wind can be quite strong , and when the wind picked up our arms, legs and neck were getting sand blasted by the loose sand. We actually had to sit down cross legged with our heads lowered to protect ourselves from the sand until the wind subsided. We made our way over the terrain and finally made it to a giant sand dune.According to our map once we climbed the sand dune we were at the entry to the wave. The whole scene looked and felt like an Indiana Jones movie, you have expected "Indy" to come rolling down the sand dune at any moment.
 

The ascent up the sand dune was fun as the sand was soft and it was a fun climb. We finally entered the area of "The Wave". It was actually quite small but immensely beautiful. The beautiful red hues...it's various undulating wave like forms..I can't do it enough justice with words. It was absolutely breathtaking, stark and beautiful at the same time, and to top it all Russell and I were the only people there. We explored the area, sat in secluded corners and listed to nothing but the wind..it was so peaceful. It was finally time to head back as we wanted to return to the trail head before sunset. The desert sun was hot, we got turned around a couple of times but Popeye (Russell ate a lot of spinach as a child hence his muscles ;-) ) somehow found the way back to the SUV with Olive Oyl in tow!