We Won the (a) Lottery!

I’m gonna say right up front that I am struggling with how best to relate our six days in Kanab, UT. Rather than my usual attempt at some sort of chronological order, I’m going to devote an entire post to one awesome day and then catch you up on the rest of the week. First, a little background.

We arrived in Kanab on Sunday afternoon, 4/28, and checked into J and J RV Park. We are within walking distance of the Kanab BLM office, a huge plus since we’ll be starting our day there every morning at 9:00am. That’s when the BLM office holds a lottery for 10 people to visit Coyote Buttes North in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument – home of the internationally famous Wave formation. (Google it! 😊)

Monday morning we entered the BLM office to find the lobby already full of fellow hikers hoping to get lucky. At 8:30am the Ranger began with a pep talk that consisted mainly of dire warnings and reasons you should NOT attempt the hike to the Wave. The route is a 6-mile slog through deep sand, there is no marked trail, it requires high-clearance FWD just to get to the trailhead, the weather is fickle, folks have died on the hike, yadda, yadda, yadda….  I understand the reason for all the warnings, they don’t want folks going out in their flip-flops and rental Camry because that would end badly. But geesh.  

Our competition for the Wave. :)

If the Ranger hasn’t been able to dissuade you from trying, then you fill out an application for your party. One application per group of up to six people. They assign each application a number and put little red balls with the corresponding numbers into a wire cage. The Ranger gives it a spin and calls out the lucky number. Only 10 people get to go, not 10 applications – so if a larger group gets called it can be over pretty quick.

During the week we were there, the number of folks competing for the 10 slots ranged from 115 to 188.  Alas, we did not get lucky in the lottery for Coyote Buttes North. However, it’s not widely known that at 10am, they go through the same process for 10 slots to Coyote Buttes South. We hung around on Monday for the second lottery and there were only 12 people competing for the 10 slots. Now that’s an improvement in the odds and this time we did get lucky!

You win a permit that allows you to hike the next day, so Tuesday, 4/30, was our day. The Rangers provided a brief orientation and map to the trailhead along with the same dire warnings that applied to Coyote Buttes North. They provided a list of local tour guides, jeep rental agencies and warned everyone that getting stuck would most likely involve staying overnight in the backcountry and a $1000 towing bill. Gulp.

We’d had thunderstorms on Sunday and more were forecast for Monday afternoon so our biggest concern was making it to the trailhead. The Acadia has 4WD, but it would be more than generous to call it high-clearance. We were also worried about Riley, we knew he wouldn’t be up for a full day of hiking so we found a pet sitter who would come to the RV to give him some playtime, potty breaks, and dinner.

We finally decided that discretion was the better part of valor and opted to hire a local guide who would provide transportation to and from the trailhead. It turned out to be a great decision. Mike Henrie, who runs Kanab Western Adventures, not only did all the driving in his very capable 4WD Suburban, he also spent about 5 ½ hours showing us around the incredible Coyote Buttes South.  Wow!!

We chose well.

I know everyone loves the Wave, but Coyote Buttes South was one hell of a consolation prize! Since Mike has spent hundreds of hours exploring the area, we got to see things we never would have found on our own. He even showed us a wave formation that was rainbow colored! 

Our Wave is rainbow colored. 

This is how good it was, Rog almost never takes any pictures unless prompted but on this hike he took so many photos he ran the battery out on his i-phone! Between the two of us, we took over 600 pictures – so if these don't do it, I have 500 more. Lol.

Puddles and clouds left over from the previous day's thunderstorm.

Doesn't this look like an awesome gargoyle??

Swoops, swirls and crazy colors.

Sometimes you just had to pause and contemplate. Mother Nature outdid herself.

By afternoon, blue skies and fluffy white clouds provided the perfect backdrop.

We walked across the side of a huge DQ swirl and then roamed around the canyons.
Without Mike to guide us we would have missed half of what we saw.

Mike’s enthusiasm was infections too. He loves this area and it was fun learning about it and sharing stories. The geology in Coyote Buttes South is incredibly diverse, you can see the effects of tectonic forces, water and wind erosion.  Some areas have finely sculpted sandstone spines and fins so fragile they are almost paper thin.

Delicate contours in stone. 

I was focusing on the swirls and didn't see the stone kitty sitting on top. Lol. 

A frozen wave and stacked bowls. 

Careful where you step! These fins were extremely thin and fragile.

We were fascinated by wind-carved fins. 

Other areas were all about color! Rainbow sherbet, brilliant yellow, dark purple stripes and swirls. Honestly, the pictures don’t come close to doing it justice. You need to come see this for yourself. You'll just shake your head. How, why? 

Color!!!!

Stripes and swirls!

Dark purple concretions with lichen spots. On the right, is that a purple alligator?

Please explain this clearly defined stripe that runs over and around the hill.

There goes that crazy purple stripe again! Lol.

The photos just don't capture the colors and textures .

The colors were so vivid, they could have been spray painted.

We only saw a few other hikers the whole time we were out exploring. Not surprising considering how few permits are issued and how large the area is. We did run into two gals who were at the lottery with us and absolutely loved the Coyote vest their fur baby was sporting. Can't you just see Riley in one of these?!

Check out the spikes!
Do you think they make these in Riley's size? Lol.

The formations are so wild. In some places the lines of stone are going first one way, then another, and then it all goes crazy!  Soft serve, pulled taffy, potato chips - we must have been hungry since food analogies were popular. Lol. 

Potato chips! Looks like a stack of stone Pringles. :)

Soft serve swirl anyone?

This formation is called the Control Tower. 

This area was like a sculpture garden.

Rog at the Control Tower and another fun sculpture.

What an awesome alcove - stripes and swirls running every which way!

We dubbed this one, Cookie Jar.

Hard to imagine the forces that created such a fantastical playground. 

Another fun feature - as if Coyote Buttes South wasn't already full of them - DINOSAUR TRACKS! It just gives me chills seeing a line of footprints and imagining a dinosaur ambling along. These tracks were so clear you could see the claw marks at the tips. Wow.

Dinosaur tracks. So freaking cool.

And the vistas are awesome too. The details were so fascinating, we had to remind ourselves to look up and out. It was almost too much to take in, but so beautiful.

This is where we stopped for lunch - quite the view!

A lone pine tree overlooks the valley.

What a wild landscape.

Indian Paintbrush blooms in the foreground.

We just hiked up out of the canyon, what a reward.

Desert crop circles. 

I'm looking for the perfect shot while Rog and Mike swap stories. 

There are two main access points for Coyote Buttes South – Cottonwood Cove and Paw Hole. Cottonwood Cove was further out and harder to get to, so there is no way Rog and I would have tried it on our own. But it’s Mike’s favorite area, so that’s where we spent our day. And we were so glad we did! He did make a loop and drove by Paw Hole on the way home. It looks like a fun place to explore too, so we can add it to the long list of reasons to come back.

Paw Hole access point - next time!

We’ll cover the remainder of our stay in Kanab in our next post. Sorry, I'm warning you now it won’t be anywhere near as impressive as Coyote Buttes South. Lol.