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The Wave (Coyote Buttes North)

Photo: Gb11111 / CC0 · source

🏜️ Canyons & deserts

The Wave (Coyote Buttes North)

Fredonia, AZ · Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona Strip

About

The Wave is a bowl of Navajo Sandstone in Coyote Buttes North, where 190 million year old dune beds erode into intersecting troughs of red, cream and pale orange, iron oxide banding in windblown sand. It is smaller than the photographs suggest, and the walk is the real work: 6.4 miles round trip from the Wire Pass trailhead, cross country over slickrock and deep sand, no trail, no shade, no water. Access is lottery only, 64 people and 16 groups a day. Forty eight come from an advanced lottery drawn four months out, 16 from a daily lottery entered by phone two days ahead from inside a geofenced corridor between Kanab and Page. Odds run in the low single digit percentages in spring and fall. House Rock Valley Road is 8.3 miles of dirt wanting high clearance, impassable when wet. Heat has killed hikers here from May through September, so carry four liters and start early.

Highlights

Permit required, lottery only, 64 people and 16 groups per dayAdvanced lottery 4 months ahead (48 people, 12 groups)Daily lottery: 16 people, mobile phone, inside geofence, 2 days out$6 lottery entry, $7 per person or dog if selected8.3 mi dirt House Rock Valley Rd, high clearance, impassable wet6.4 mi round trip, no trail, no shade, no waterHeat deaths have occurred May to September

Getting there

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Curated guides that feature The Wave (Coyote Buttes North).

Best Slot Canyons and Red Rock in the US15 places

Best Slot Canyons and Red Rock in the US

The sandstone country of the Colorado Plateau and its edges: corridors sanded smooth by flood water, arches by the thousand, hoodoo amphitheaters and thousand-foot buttes. Fifteen places, honest about which ones need a permit, a Navajo guide, or a high-clearance truck, and which you can simply walk into.