Back to Utah and Found Even More Cool Places

After rolling out of Vegas (again; and we'll be back in January!) fatter and happier post-Thanksgiving, we decided that we had unfinished business in Utah. This beautiful state keeps pulling us back in. Our path this time would take us just south of Zion NP and out toward Kanab. We figured we’d just spend a day or two exploring...silly us for attempting to plan ahead. We rolled into Kanab mid-afternoon and the super helpful folks at the Visitor Center for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (yep, the one that just lost a vast expanse of its protected land) sent us out west of town to look for a site on BLM land to boondock.

In case we haven’t explained, boondocking (aka "dry camping") is camping with no electric, water or sewer connections, and is typically done on BLM or Forest Service land (or a Walmart parking lot but we haven’t gone there...yet) . Our solar panels afford us a few days power...or more as it turns out! There’s a smidgeon of risk involved in driving down gravel or sand roads and not knowing if there will be a campsite or even a place to safely turn around while hunting for a “previously disturbed area.” Our truck-trailer combo is about 47’ long, so nimble we ain’t.

We found a great spot a bit north of the Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park and had multiple square miles to ourselves. Aside from the critters, we didn’t see another living thing. Excellent. As a side note, we were semi-surprised to discover that southern Utah gets cold at night in early December. Our cheeks (all four sets) were as rosy as the sand dunes at sunset as the temps sank with the sun to below freezing.

It was standing room only at the lottery.

The next morning, we drove back into Kanab for a lottery ticket. No, not the kind that might pay off in the millions of $$; we wanted the kind that might get us a permit to hike to the Wave and some million dollar views! Even though it was a random Thursday in the off-season, there were about 40+ folks gathered at the Visitor Center hoping for one of only ten walk-up permits that are chosen by random lottery (must be present to win!). We were not lucky that day, but did not walk away empty handed. We got some hints on additional boondocking sites east of town and some hiking trail recommendations. The rangers also encouraged everyone to come back Friday morning as they would be drawing for ten permits each on Sat, Sun, and Mon. After seeing the posters of the wave and feeling the vibe at the lottery - we were hooked and figured we’d come back the next morning. Luck permitting (pun intended) we'd see the Wave over the weekend. In the meantime, there was plenty of exploring to do.

Canyon hiking is a lot of fun, as long as it doesn’t threaten rain.

We found an awesome spot along the Great Western Trail to serve as our base camp - close enough to the places we wanted to play in the Monument and to Kanab (and the town bakery!). We headed out for a canyon hike with these instructions from the ranger “get to the trailhead and follow the sign to the wash, turn left and follow the wash until the canyon walls close in - go as far as you want and then turn around. Watch for standing stagnant water and quicksand (yep...quicksand!).” These are instructions we can follow! We found the trailhead for Wire Pass, found the wash, followed it until the walls closed in ... and shit got epic. Probably about 150 yards into the slot canyon, with the walls barely wider than our outstretched arms, we had to navigate down about an 8’ drop. Someone had stacked up some logs that sorta made a ladder...not sketchy at all! Super fun hike and we didn’t get into anything technical, nor get sucked in by quick sand, so we had a blast and were pumped for more adventure. Next up was the Toadstools hike - seriously, geography and geology gets crazy in this area. You can read the interpretative signs and displays, learn the science of how the geology evolved, but when you get out in the "backcountry" and see the views, it's like "boom" and your head explodes trying to make sense of it. Instead of “Life Elevated,” Utah should consider “Our Geography Will Blow Your Minds” as a slogan. You’re welcome, Utah.

We came back for the Wave lottery the next morning (Friday) and it was crazy. There were probably about 80 or more folks in the room hoping that Lady Luck would smile. We had a good feeling about our bingo ball #5. After Saturday’s permits were gone, a few folks left. We hoped our flexible schedule would pay off as our odds went up. About halfway through Sunday's permits, our lucky number 5 was called! YAY! We won the lottery! After sitting through the "people die out in the Utah Wilderness" briefing, we got the "secret" trail map. So naturally, we headed back to the Kanab bakery to celebrate. We are nothing if not spoiled!

To work off the pastry, we drove out to the Pahreah Town Site. Neither of us were particularly fired up about it and we were basically going there because 1) the fun ranger told us to, and 2) they had filmed some movies out there (Outlaw Josey Wales) and we thought it would be good pics to send to family. Super happy we listened to the ranger - more amazing views (again, the pictures just don't do it justice), and we were able to frolic down around the Paria River, making our own trail by hiking up and over some hills and through some washes and the river bed, generally just being silly as we "trekking-pole vaulted" over river sections to avoid getting our feet wet. Yeah yeah, we know, the waaaambulance siren would have wailed if we got our tootsies wet.

Since we were camping in gorgeous terrain surrounded by a maze of dirt roads, we decided that we needed to bust out the mountain bikes and go exploring right from the front door of the YOFOHome. We had a rough map of the area that made it look like we could do a reasonable loop connecting some of the roads. When we say "roads," these are really rough 4x4 trails, most likely made by ranchers as we encountered some barbed wire fences/gates and water troughs out there, in conditions ranging from "sure, I'd drive on that" to "nope, not unless there's a horse involved." We saw lots of hoof (deer, cow, horse) prints but aside from flushing some deer, didn't see many critters. Dean did see a road runner kicking up some dust clouds (they are just like the cartoon, sans the "beep beep!"), but Dawn was staring down (watching for rattlers?) and missed it. The scenery was worthy and we only had to negotiate a few short deep sand sections. The map turned out to be more than a bit inaccurate, but somehow we had cell coverage the whole time (which almost never happens) so could check the satellite imagery and sort out which direction to head for the next section of criss-crossing roads.

I do not like green eggs and ham.  I do not like them, Sam I Am. — I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam I Am.

Finally, Wave Day arrives. Not really sure how to describe this day except, "poly moly and holy crapoly" the entire hike was amazing. We hiked past colored rock structures that seemed as if they were sculpted by Dr. Seuss as we followed our map toward the Coyotes Buttes area. Each direction we looked seemed to have a different vibe - to the east lay steep walls that dropped into the Paria River Canyon area; to the west lay the Suessian rock formations, but different from the hoodoos, fins and pinnacles of other parks; to the south lay undulating sand dunes and a major wash (dry river bed); and behind us to the north was a series of gulches and mini-canyons that gave way to pinon and sage hills. We were surprised - we assumed that this was a "destination" hike where the hike itself is meh. Turned out this hike was epic from a half mile in and didn't let up. And the destination? The Wave itself is another place that really needs to be seen to be believed. As usual our pics do not do it justice. Mother Nature sculpted beautiful shapes and colors in such as way that no human artist could capture it (not even Dr. Seuss!). Most of the other folks out there just hung out at the Wave, but if you ventured a little ways in some other directions, there was even more natural beauty and "geological art". If you ever luck into a permit (and we highly recommend trying), do yourself another favor and wander around generally area surrounding the maze. Also, don't be "those people" who basically sit in the middle of the Wave and block the place for other folks' photos. As it turned out, we saw some women who had packed changes of clothes to do an entire modelling shoot out there. Add that to our list of "wtf?" experiences.

NOT the Wave...but in the area we explored nearby.

And just in case you google instructions on how to "cheat" to see the wave without a permit, we'd suggest you rethink it. They are serious about enforcing the 20 people per day limit (10 additional permits per day are drawn through an online lottery - you can google it). When we arrived at the trailhead parking lot, there was a BLM ranger taking attendance and checking permits. Since we were curious, we asked him what the fine was for folks who attempted to do the hike without a permit. Apparently, the law allows for penalties up to $10,000, but most fines are "only" about $1,500 unless there are aggravating circumstances (like getting caught lying to the rangers or bringing a bike into the wilderness area). So, we happily headed down the trail, our permit prominently displayed on one of our daypacks. Not far down the trail, and just before it forked to the permit-only area, we passed a gal sitting on a rock tying her shoe. We said hi and continued on our merry way. As soon as we passed her she got up and started following us. Huh. We kept up a brisk pace hoping to create some space, and we even wandered slightly off course, but she stayed behind us by only about 30 or 40 yards. As it turns out, Ranger Ken (from parking lot) decided to hike the trail after we left. He had gone high over the saddle that we had gone around, and called out to us from a few hundred yards away. We of course went over meet him. He asked if we were being followed, so we told him the story. He pointed us to the next landmark and just as we were setting off again, our tail came around the rock structure and ran right into Ranger Ken. Turns out that she did NOT have a permit. Her story was "I'm traveling on a bike, I have no cell phone, and no address" and basically refused to leave. Apparently, this mimicked the online instructions for how to cheat to get to the Wave while trying to avoid the ticket and fine. Ken called a law enforcement ranger to chase her down, since she was refusing to leave. She stopped following us, and we did not see her near the Wave, but as we were hiking back to the trailhead and parking lot, we passed her heading out on the trail toward the Wave! WTF? When we got back to the parking lot, we saw the Law Enforcement ranger arrive. He asked if we had seen her and whether she had her bike with her - another big no no. The ranger had noticed her the previous day riding her bike down the dirt road and hadn't thought much of it, but remembered her from Ken's description. He was planning to hike out toward the Wave to link up with Ken; he had no doubt that between the two rangers, "we'll git 'er" (his words). Side note: if you're going to do dumb stuff, don't wear a puffy bright red coat with sling blue duffel bag. Just sayin'.

We had a great time playing in the Kanab area and just scratching the surface of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments. The geography of the area is fascinating and there is just so much scenery to take in and adventures to be had. Next stop: Arizona and southern Colorado.