PORTFOLIO
Portfolio: Attacking The Wave
by Kara Fox
I recently received an invitation to join my daughter and grandsons on a road trip to “The Wave” in Arizona, assuming this was a large water park exploding from the desert, not really of interest to me.
I quickly said yes, however, as I love road trips with my family! Shortly after I agreed to go, I learned The Wave is a multi-colored wonderland in America's Southwest Grand Circle. A diverse land of carved stone that fascinates the eye and mind. This remarkable sculptured sandstone rock formation sits in the shadow of Coyote Buttes and is reached, not by trail, but by navigation using landmarks or GPS coordinates—a 6 mile round-trip hike through soft sand and steep rocks.
Due to the fragile nature of the area, the number of guests allowed is limited. A permit is required to hike to this natural wonder, and only a lucky few are privileged to enter on any given day. The Bureau of Land Management issues permits by lottery, 10 in advance and 10 for walk-ins. We were walk-ins and no less than thrilled when they called our number. Our permit was issued for 2 days from the lottery and we found ourselves with ample time to explore this area of power and grace.
We began our adventure at Bryce Canyon. It's more an amphitheater than a canyon, bursting with red, orange and white rock. Bryce takes your breath away. It's thousands of delicately carved spires where erosion has shaped colorful limestone, sandstone, and mudstone into a spectacular array of spires, fins, and pinnacles known as "hoodoos." Legend has it that the colorful hoodoos are ancient "Legend People" who were turned to stone as punishment for bad deeds. We were very well-behaved while there as we didn't want to take a chance and be turned into hoodoo!
Leaving Bryce, we drove to Zion National Park, a place that shines above the collection of national parks, located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert regions. A prominent feature of this park is its unique geography and variety of life zones.Zion's beauty makes you gasp in awe!
Very happily and accidentally we discovered we were at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Red rock walls giving way to a wide plain of bright reddish-pink sand dunes. My grandsons were immediately out of the car, running at full speed, up to the top of the soft, smooth sand dunes, jumping off, landing in the sand below and running up again, jumping off over and over again.
From Zion, we headed towards Lake Powell. Along the way, we passed Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness. A region known for its beauty of towering walls streaked with desert varnish. These walls contain multiple terrain features exposing strata of the geologic record.
Lake Powell, where water meets desert, was our home for the last part of our trip while we waited for our entry date to The Wave, the reason for this entire excursion. Lake Powell sits in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The 186 mile long lake offers sandy beaches, cool blue water and exceptional red-rock scenery. Its shoreline is longer than the whole western coast of the continental United States. In addition to eating delicious sushi unexpectedly in the desert, we visited one the most photographed slot canyons in the area, Antelope Canyon.
Antelope Canyon, also known as Corkscrew Canyon, was discovered in 1931 by a Navajo girl herding sheep. A slot canyon begins as a hairline crack in the rock, which is beaten upon by rapidly flowing water until it becomes larger and finally over a vast period of time and a multitude of flash floods erodes the rock, and forms a narrow crevice. This is Navajo territory and one is not permitted to enjoy the canyon without a licensed guide. We all boarded open buses and after a very dusty, hot and bumpy ride, we arrived at the entrance to the canyon.
One by one, we were allowed to enter the magical crevices of the canyon and all you could hear were everyone’s whispers and gasps-- it was magnificent as the light from above shot through the openings in the dark canyons below. Our guide kicked up sand so we could see the particles dance in the wind she had created.
As the sun was setting we took the 3/4 mile hike to Horseshoe Bend, a meander of the Colorado River, to stand on the steep cliffs above and enjoy the sunset. Locally this bend is known as “King Bend” and after standing on the cliffs it is easy to see how this name came to be.
At last, it was time to see The Wave. Hidden in Paria Canyon near the Utah/Arizona border. We were given pictures rather than a map. We were told to bring lots of extra water, sun block and food just in case we got lost. We were told to sign in and out of the visitor's book so the rangers would know if we didn't return.
We were also told to notify someone that we were going to hike The Wave and to let them know when we expected to be down so they could call for help if they didn't hear from us. We thought they were being dramatic—they were not. We hiked for more than 2 miles through loose deep sand, over rocks, and on the sides of steep mountains. There were no signs or indicators to let us know if we were on the right path and we were all alone! It is very remote and you don't see people to ask for directions! We were lost at the beginning.
It took us at least a half hour to find the unmarked dirt path off highway 89, which was the beginning of the path. From then on, it was a wonderful adventure until the end, when we got lost again. After more than 2 hours we found our way back. Hot, tired, shoes full of sand and, nevertheless, very happy and satisfied to have experienced the mysterious and haunting beauty of The Wave.
Rather than the water park I initially envisioned, The Wave proved to be the exclamation point at the end of the sentence, the sentence describing a magical road trip with my family, Jenifer, Chase and Riley I will long remember.
