Living in Colorado, we’ve spent considerable time exploring the deserts of the four-corners region of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. We’ve visited all of the National Parks and many of the National monuments in the area, mostly exploring Anasazi ruins. Yet we’d never heard of The Wave until we read an article about it in the Sunday travel section of our local newspaper. The accompanying photographs instantly captivated us — the layers of reds and gold forming undulating waves in the sandstone were like nothing we’d ever seen. We instantly had a new mission: Get to The Wave. The Wave sits in the Coyote Buttes area of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument along the border of Utah and Arizona. This spectacular gift of nature was created by wind blowing through the area and wearing the soft sandstone into the wavelike patterns. Due to the fragile nature of rock formations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has instituted a lottery system to limit the number of visitors allowed in the area each day to 20. Not only does this permit process protect the area, but it also makes a visit much more enjoyable, especially if you are on a photographer’s journey. We were lucky and got a permit on our second try; many others have tried for years to obtain one.
We visited The Wave during the week of Thanksgiving. The air temperature was brisk, just perfect for hiking and preferable to the extreme heat of summer. The day started out cloudy and then the sun emerged revealing a deep blue autumn sky. Probably because it was a holiday week, we encountered only seven other people heading to The Wave.
The trailhead is about an hour’s drive from Page, Arizona; half on paved highway and half on a dirt road that you definitely don’t want to be on if the weather turns bad. When you get a permit, the BLM provides a detailed map of how to get to the trailhead and how to navigate the sandstone to get to The Wave. It’s an easy three-mile hike over some sandy areas, but mostly on slickrock, and, boy, is it worth the effort! If you didn’t know it was there, you might walk right past it – The Wave is a small area of stunning beauty sitting among the sandstone towers of the desert.
We spent hours in The Wave and took literally hundreds of pictures – thankfully we’d gone digital! Every step revealed a new view of the magnificent formations. As the light changed and the sun moved across the sky, the dramatic panorama continued to transform itself, making it difficult to tear ourselves away for the trek back to the cars.
This is amazing. It looks like Mars on Earth. These are incredible photos in a place I most likely will never visit but wish I could.