Adventure Hike to Coyote Buttes
By Debbie Miller Marschke
I have an ever-growing list of things I must see before I die. Last year, I was camping with my husband Steve and Gary Thomas. We talked about each other’s “lists” and, to my pleasant surprise, I discovered that Gary had some similar goals. Coyote Buttes, Utah, was near the top of both of our lists. There is an astonishing formation there called “The Wave” that is unmatched anywhere in the world. I had first seen a photo of it on a calendar many years ago and I posted the photo up as a reminder – this place was a “top of the list” entry. It is a dramatic twisted fold of sandstone with swirls of color and texture. Gary and I made a pact that this was a priority to make our dream come true. We knew this goal was not simple. Coyote Buttes is contained within BLM land 5.5.miles from the parking area with no marked trail to the formation. The BLM does not publicly publish directions to Coyote Buttes and The Wave. The web has plenty of photos, but no definitive resources concerning the route you can rely on. What’s more, there is restricted access to the area with a complicated lottery of permits that allows a maximum of 20 persons per day. That’s 10 persons arranged in advance, and 10 persons issued walk up permits.. The lottery for the permit is chosen four months in advance.
We paid the $5 non-refundable lottery fee and selected three potential hike dates in March of 2008. The competition was fierce; the preferred dates we had determined that all three of us could carry out our mission had up to 170 other applicants vying for 10 slots. The odds did not look promising and we waited for the results of the December 1, 2007 lottery. The day I received the email from the BLM that my top choice date, March 29, 2008, was awarded to us literally made me jump for joy!
We had another stroke of great luck: DE member Ron Ross had been to Coyote Buttes and was willing to prepare for us a top-notch trail guide, complete with landmarking photos and GPS coordinates. Ron generously took the time to prepare this trail guide for us, which is now posted on the DE website. Ron’s information about the hike was the best single source we had, with plenty of details, and was simply awesome. Thanks, Ron!
The BLM provided us with our permit and their version of the trail guide, complete with color photos of landmarks. Between Ron’s guide and the BLM’s, we could not fail. Steve pre-programmed his GPS, and I almost memorized the trail guides. This hike was all about finding “the black crack” or “black notch” ; this was the feature that would lead us to The Wave.
We camped near the Wire Pass trailhead, the same trailhead used for access to Paria Canyon and Buckskin Gulch. The designated campground was small and disappointing; what’s more, it was full. We made a primitive camp near the access road and rested up for our big day. We started our hike at around 8 a.m. The weather was clear with a slight breeze, and the high temp was expected to be around 65 degrees. That was a perfect condition for this hike. The first mile followed a dry wash and was the shared route for those hiking to Paria and Buckskin. Then the route split up and we descended up on the sandstone and across the formations for most of the hike. This made excellent footing as the sandstone was like walking on sandpaper, without much risk of slipping or losing one’s footing. However, the bare hard sandstone was like marching across a frying pan. The rock retains and radiates heat. Even in the mid-sixty degree temperature, we worked up a sweat. Anything hotter would have been brutal. We hiked at a leisurely pace and took frequent breaks to gape at the scenery. It was truly spectacular and sublimely magnificent! It was hard to fathom that we could do any better than this! We also checked our coordinates and directions frequently. After cross country hiking with no trail to mark our way for several miles, we felt vulnerable of making a directional error. Between the three of us, we made good choices and made decent time. After hiking about ¾ of the distance, we passed behind the landmark called Twin Buttes. The famous “Black Crack” formation could clearly be seen in the distance and we knew we were going to find The Wave.
We thought we knew what to expect when we arrived, but we were all wrong. Each of us was virtually speechless and astonished. The Wave formation was unlike anything we had ever seen or imagined. We felt that we had been blessed with a gift from nature, the art of God. It was not simply a feast for the eyes as the formation is ridged in a twisted relief pattern that begs to be touched. Take a few steps and turn about – the formation appears different depending on the direction you are facing and the lighting. It is so wonderful that it defies description. All three of us were so awed that we kept stammering dumbly “ I can’t believe it” and “ This is so neat”. You can walk on the edges or amble across the bottom, The Wave is large and has several twists. Bring an extra memory card for your camera!
We spent many more hours just hanging around the area, visiting the many other notable formations and revisiting The Wave. We budgeted our time intending to spend the entire day exploring the area, and we were never disappointed. We did account for all 20 permit holders for that day, but the hikers were not all present at the same time so it was not crowded. We found out from the walk-in permit holders that there were 90 people competing for the 10 walk-in permits that day, having arrived and waited for those the previous morning. One gentleman had applied for and competed in the lottery for a walk-in permit for 5 days before he got lucky. There are no guarantees for a walk-in permit, and every morning there is a new lottery (you don’t get credit for any prior days you applied and failed). Gary, Steve, and I felt extremely lucky. We had criticized the lottery system as being too oppressive and difficult before we launched upon the hike. However, after having completed the hike we were all in agreement that the system needed to be in place to protect the formation from being loved to death. We did not see a Ranger that day, but we were told by another hiker that the Rangers do show up at the formation regularly.
Please go to the DE website to see our spectacular photos www.desertexplorers.org . Black and white prints in this article undersell this awesome beauty. The hike is not difficult if you are adequately prepared. This hike was one of the most exciting and rewarding adventure hikes I have ever done. Of course, I will return!