Today is a grand day. No pleasure walks on Tlaquepaque square in Sedona, no relaxing visit points like Horseshoe Bend south of Page. In program today is the famous “WAVE”, in the north section of Coyote Buttes. It’s a small Perl, very published but not very visited an hour drive from Page. Lets take a step back to explain why the exclusivity of this place. The Wave is a small area in the naturalistic zone of Praia Canyon –Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, reachable taking the US89 in direction Kanab. To enter you must ask a permit at the BLM (Bureau of Land Management), many months before. But it is not so easy, indeed; The BLM to save the ecosystem and overall the already delicate ecosystem of “the Wave” permit only ten (10) persons a day, practically if you go on different hours you will not meet anyone their. The reservation must be taken the first day of four months before the visit, at 12.00 o’clock mountain time, by internet.
So far things seem simple, but they are not. If you travel in August you must prepare to get on line for reservations at 9 pm the first of April, but you must be quick; the permits are possible only on the hour, and for a few minutes. If you get on line a few minutes after 9, you will surely find “sold out” for the date you occur. The last possibility is to get to the BLM office half way between Kanab and Page early in the morning, the ranger makes a small lottery with the few extra tickets to the tourist their. This makes you understand why “the wave” is considered so exclusive. But that is not the only difficulty; if you decide to visit Coyote Buttes in the summer, you must consider that the excursion can jump, due to the summer rains. And value the physical part; the excursion consists in over tree miles in the sand, steep rocks and hills with snakes all over. This is the problem for who decides to organize excisions last minute with all the difficulties there are.
Going back to Page; the alarm clock rings in an early hour, being on vacation, but you must arrive very early at the entrance of Coyote Buttes to avoid the traditional rain showers at lunch time. Very emotional like two children we put our things in the car, re-control our snapsack and take off. Passing the “Glen Canyon Dam” we take the stupendous US89 in direction Utah. Driving true this street is like diving into a documentary; on the right hand the splendor of Lake Powell with in the background the highness of the Grand Canyon; after a few minutes we are surrounded by the Vermillion Cliffs on the left and the plateau of Grand Staircase- Escalante on the right. Marvelous, Emotional! I have seen this street thousands of times, on guides, maps and software; being here doesn’t seem real, maybe because it so long I have been dreaming this. At half way we cross a small built up area of houses and containers called Big Water; right away I remember I was told that this is were the ruff street starts and brings you to the peak of Romana Mesa of Lake Powell.
Just thinking about soon being in contact with “the wave” makes my stomach tight up; considering that besides snakes and gps, I only have a map given from BLM; but don’t know if the track will be easy to follow. On the road I stop at a ranger office for info, on how the meteo conditions are and about the excursion. The ranger remembers me that the trail is very tuff and he assures himself that I have provisions and the necessary for orienting. Sure of myself in a short time we arrive to a small crossway were there is a sign indicating Coyote Butte; starting with a dirt road and pointed rocks that makes us zigzag for an endless half an hour. But finally in front of us the famous parking where the trail starts. Maybe used to the traffic at Page, finding only one car in the area worries me a little. The first thing that passes my mind is “if I need something who will I ask, seeing the crowd?”.
My worries are soon gone; coming toward use is a small car with plates from “NYC” raising a lot of dust on the dirt road; from inside a young guy comes out. Trying to socialize we say hello hoping to join the party; but after a few minutes we realize he is busy with himself. We decide to leave alone, the time passes and we know that for lunch time we must start going back towards home. Starting with the first waypoint, very well detailed on the map, invites to walk in the dry bed of the torrent, when I say dry I mean dry, and try to image what this place can turn like with an sudden flash flood. After a few minute walk we start the itineraries, at the first hill we already start breathing heavy. After a quick downhill on the red sand of Vermilions Cliffs we see ahead of use the panorama. A very tuff landscape, made of small buttes that emerge between slabs of rock and small accumulate of sand; trying to see if the wave is near, I don’t se anything but I really don’t know were to look.
While I’m trying to reach the next point on the map, Bob the guy meet at the parching joins us. He under stud we were wondering around, with real class he offers to join us; what luck. We notice that he chooses alternated trajectory, we would have never chosen. To avoid the sandy ways and to meet snakes that is often present. Speaking during the walk we find out that Bob is not there for visit, but for work. During the last month he made this itinerary almost every day, because he is a researcher for NASA; he explains that further over the wave there is an area used by the American Space Agency to study the conformation of the rock, a structure very similar to Mars. His company is very pleasant, and his experience on a territory similar to Mars is reassuring for the whole trip. The panorama along the trail is very tuff; some Buttes here and their, many rocks, and many small bushes that delaine some sandy zones. At a certain point we realize that the Wave is getting close; Bob points us a steep hill further ahead, made mostly of sandy ramps, where we see two persons that are difficultly trying to go up. But Bob seeing the astonished face of Babi, makes us take a shortcut, less difficult, but more steeply made of rocks. A few steps and we are on the peak of this kind of hill.
Where is the WAVE? Suddenly we see Bob stopping under a big rock, looking for some shade where to drink and eat something. We reach him and from his smile I realize we arrived; that big rock is the entrance, it is the most curiosa form of rock ever seen. A small hollow basin of a few meter diameters; the spectacular scenery is breath taking. The land curves on itself with a harmony of impressing colors; the walls are signed with small crests and colors red, orange and yellow running all over. It was a very heavy day, but I think that a day like this is worth the whole trip. We noticed the two persons we saw before on the peak are already on their way of return. Doing that entire street, for staying just a few minutes? Bob salutes us and invited us to stay if we had the strength and the will, to clime on the mesa behind the wave, where he will stay until evening for his research. We thank him for have taken care of us; and we remain surprised he thanked us for keeping him company in such a desolated place. I take out my tripod and start taking all the pictures desired the Wave was exclusive for us.
It is hard to explain with words what nature can; a few minute walk from the wave and we find a small zone called “second wave” less impressive then the first but always interesting. Two small subsidences made of yellowish and pink colors less strong then the other, but are even more exclusive. We are practically alone in an enormous area, in a disarming silence. Not many times in my life I got to listen my breathing; here it’s possible. The whispering of the wind that runs threw the small mesa, with the screaming of a bird now and then. Just the time to eat something in the shade of the rock and we realize it is 12 o’clock; in the horizone seams like the sky is starting to get cloudy. The parties are over, better start picking up our thing and get walking. To leave a place like this is not easy, but the risk is too high to stay longer. We start sliding down the sandy rocks that we avoided coming; the walk is long and the heat strong and our legs start feeling the weight. The nice thing about finding a guide on the place is that you can chat on the way and not worry about keeping your eyes on the way to return. The landscape is uniform, boring to the point to create false routes. Piers navigator is very useful in this moment, avoiding us to pass a few days under a bush on the section North Coyote Buttes, even if it is difficult to choose the best point to cross the land, and which path is easier to clime. For several times we had to stop and control if the gps indicated some new tunnels recently built behind the mountain, or if we have to clime up and then down the hills. After quite a while we arrive tired and with no water to the car; what an experience, tuff and fortunate. The sky starts to get dark, slowly the smell and the first sounds of a thunderstorm coming punctual as a Swiss watch; every afternoon around two (2) the weather changes and leaves space to possible storms at Arizona Strip. But there is no problem, we are on our way back to Page; I had other place for the afternoon to go visit, but the tiredness is really a lot. Now my dream is a gallon of fresh water and relax on the pool side, after all we are “also” on vacation; and overall I don’t want to ruin this marvelous day. Tomorrow is another day, and we’ll se what to do. |
