I had seen pictures. We had stopped in the Kanab, Utah visitor center to see where it was but they said we couldn’t go without a permit. That was a few years ago. Since then I read this great article, applied as walk-ins last April, applied online twice and finally won the wave lottery for a group of four. I was ecstatic! They drew my number from the 404 applicants for Tue, Mar 6, 2018 – how lucky am I? We began training over four months ago. I had waited until late in the evening on the last day of November to apply so I could see where my odds were better. We decided to make it the finale of a 3 day excursion to Page, Arizona. The plan: Sunday – travel to Page and visit Horseshoe Bend; Monday – hike White Pocket; Tuesday – hike The Wave!

It was written in the sand.

The weather was perfect! Sunshine and clear skies with temps around 30F when we started and up to 50F in the afternoon. (that’s -1C to 10C).

The scenery was awesome! With rock formations everywhere, I spent a lot of time just taking pictures.

This one was a long way up and a long way away.

Further up the trail, there it is again, in the distance. The colours were amazing everywhere we looked.

This dead old cedar tree had a great view of the wash below in the distance and the ever shifting sand dunes.

Just before the wave, this rainbow of colour on the nearby buttes dazzled me.

We made it! [waving from the Wave] Over 3 miles of climbing up and down to get here.

I had two cameras on the go and shots were everywhere I turned.

This one was from my 11-20mm. I was so glad I brought this wide angle lens.

I pondered the fast moving water that deposited the v-shaped flame structure.

And what was the gray rock layer in these buttes? Many questions.

The sweeping white layer leads my eye to the second butte while shadows contrast the deeper ridges on the left.

The trough continued up behind me but I chose to stop here and head back.

The s-curves are eye candy, beautifully sculpted by wind, sand and water.

Each time I look, I see something else.

The wispy clouds were framing this butte almost like god rays.

Layers of deep purple, orange and white were on the floor of an interesting little slot on the west side, but we couldn’t stay until the sun made it’s way around. We had to head back to the trailhead.

The purple layers seemed to be in this butte as well.

Polygonal cracking on the floor is like abstract tiles.

Wendy thinks we should go this way! She’s right!

I still can’t get over all the colour in the landscape.

A hearty yucca is anchored to the dune.

Formations known as the teepees are off in the distance. Too far for us to walk there. Maybe another day?!

The cap rock on this hoodoo reminds me of one near Drumheller, AB. This one has a large chunk broken from the top right.

I was so glad to find this pile of rock, a marker on the slick rock, that let us know we were on the right trail.

Tiny yellow flowers blooming in this desert plagued by drought.

What a fantastic lunch spot! MaryBeth, Richard and Wendy are replenishing after all the climbing.

Some of the wildlife out getting some afternoon sun.

From the hill opposite, we weren’t looking forward to climbing up the sand dune, slick rock and more sand before arriving at the entrance to the Wave just below the snow.

This is a closeup of the entrance to the Wave. The Wave became a popular tourist destination after it debuted as a desktop background image for a computer operating system.

Fitbit said the hike to the Wave and back to Wire Pass Trailhead was 7.3 miles, 18,000 steps, 89 flights and took us 6.5 hours. Good thing we left early!