The Wave, Utah/Arizona

The Wave is a really fragile sandstone formation that is self explanatory in its name.

It’s so fragile, only 20 hikers are allowed per day to help preserve it. The hike to it is entirely unmarked and you need a map that you only get when you get awarded the permit. Fines for being without a permit run into the thousands.

To win a permit, 10 are awarded online and 10 are awarded in person by lottery. If you apply online, you have to do it three months before you want to hike it and pick a certain amount of different dates you’d like to. You get notified if you get selected.

The other 10, however, apply in person at the BLM facility in Kanab, Utah. A small town about an hour or so north of Horseshoe Bend, Arizona. This is the morning before you want to hike the wave. You fill out an application, the ranger gives your application a number, and the numbers go into the spin thingy.

This is what that permit you win and process (process pic is not mine, got it off a blog) looks like in person:



I tried 8 times to win this permit in person (I traveled out here on several occasions, if you don’t win this permit there’s still a bunch of great places to hike in this area). Some people win it on the first try, while a German couple tried about 38 times. There’s no magic bullet to winning this besides blind luck.

The next day, I got to set out with 9 other lucky winners. It’s devoid of tourists who irritate you and commotion. It’s about a 7 mile hike round trip across open desert. Here is what it looks like.