2008-11-07 The last day of our western vacation, we visited an area called "The Wave". The only way to reach it is to hike about 2.5 miles from Utah into Arizona. It is a very strenuous hike with accumulated altitude changes of several thousand feet, slippery rock surfaces, and deep sand. It took us 2 hours, each way, to make the trek.

"The Wave" is located on the Colorado Plateau near the Utah and Arizona border. It is in a region called "Coyote Buttes". The area is a gallery of gruesomely twisted sandstone formations, resembling deformed pillars, cones, mushrooms and other odd creations. Deposits of iron claim some of the responsibility for the unique blending of color twisted in the rock, creating a dramatic rainbow of pastel yellows, pinks, and reds.

In order to visit the area, it is necessary to apply for a hiking permit. Since this particular location is so popular (especially among Europeans) and so ecologically fragile, there is a limit of 20 permits per day. Only 10 of the daily permits are allocated by previous reservation via the Internet or by prior written application. There is a very reasonable fee of $7.00 per person. The remaining 10 daily permits are allocated by a daily lottery among those present at the BLM Operations Center at 9:00 AM the day previous to the intended visit. We showed up at 9:00 AM on Thursday, November 6 not expecting to win a permit, but were lucky enough to be selected from 31 others participating in the lottery.

There are a number of similar images (I apologize ahead of time), but I couldn't decide which ones to exclude.

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