WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007      PARIA CANYON-VERMILLION CLIFFS WILDERNESS AREA      35 MILES WEST OF PAGE, AZ

  Directly north of the Grand Canyon is a vast area of largely uninhabited wilderness.    This rugged and parched landscape give rise to some awesome grandeur and beauty.   Possibly most unusual, here or anywhere else,  is a erosion formed landscape that has been described as "psychedelic", a graceful swoosh of color and striation that lies on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes.   About a three mile hike from the Wire Pass Trailhead, THE WAVE is about the size of full sized basketball court, but infinitely more photogenic.

     This gallery is dedicated to Dave and Liz who "ran the gauntlet" of the required lottery for the limited permits issued by the BLM.   It took three separate trips of 90 miles on consequetive days to win our permits, and by then they had to get back and could not make the hike.    Thanks to you, our visit was possible.

    The hike to the wave is somewhat challenging due to the sudden loss of a defined trail.     The path is easy to follow in the sand, but abruptly becomes "on your own" route finding as the route steps onto solid rock for most of the way.   The limit on the number of hikers for purposes of reducing damaging impact is the reason for the obscurity.   The BLM wants you to get the directions from them after you have gotten your permit.   The number of hikers is limited to 20 per day!   Do not hike without permit!    

     We relied too much on GPS waypoints, which seemed to be consistantly off, rather than the straightforward directions from the Paria Visitors Station.    We went way off course before we realized the difficult terrain that we were getting into was not the easy course that was described.

      An unusual event led to the photo above:

"Elderly man rides The Wave in Paria Wilderness"

 A camera lens cover was dropped and started rolling downhill.   Just then, a strong wind came into the contoured slope and drove the rolling disc uphill to an unlikely resting spot on the "crest" of the wave.   The nearly seventy year old man was spry and readily jumped at the challenge to retrieve the cap.   The above photo shows his sure footed balance as he turns to retrace his steps off of the narrow ledge.  

  It appears that he is comfortable at "riding the wave".

Thanks Dave and Liz.

You made this possible