Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Arizona → The Wave

Location: North Coyote Buttes, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

Distance: 5.2 miles roundtrip

Elevation Gain: 418 feet

Time Required: 4 hours (includes time to walk around)

Red Tape/Notes: Holy lottery for permits, Batman. While the permit application process is pretty straightforward (start at this website, 4 months before you want to go, and follow the directions), actually obtaining a permit is pretty tough. I entered the lottery almost every month for a year and a half before finally getting a permit. You can also enter the last-minute walk-in drawing by showing up in-person at the BLM office at 8:30am the day before you want to do the hike.

What’s Nearby?: Coyote Buttes North

The Wave has become one of the iconic symbols of the American West – the kind of place you see in pictures and think can’t possibly exist. And as frustrating as the permit process can be, the Bureau of Land Management got it right. Only 20 people per day are allowed to the sight, and the trail is specifically kept unmaintained and unsigned to prevent unpermitted access; as a result, the area has stayed pristine. If you are issued a permit, you’ll receive an area map with directions on how to get to The Wave and helpful waypoint pictures. Getting there is kind of like a treasure hunt – “hike towards this funny looking mountain, then turn right and hike toward the sand dunes” and so on.

Treasure hunt aside, it’s an easy hike and not terribly difficult to find (particularly if you follow the directions). And when you get there…well, it’s what you’ve seen in the pictures, which is pretty amazing. We left on our hike before dawn to make sure we’d have the place to ourselves, but given that you’ve got all day and only 20 people who are going to show up, it’s not hard to get some quality alone time. The Wave isn’t very big, so you don’t need that much time when you get there. Even if you spend a lot of time taking photos, I can’t imagine needing more than an hour. However…I do highly (highly!!) recommend spending time seeing some of the other things in the area while you’re here (see the Coyote Buttes North post).

Epic Travel → North America → Mountain States → Arizona → The Wave