TB Adventure: The Wave Adventure

Several years ago we learned about this spectacular wonder. The Wave only permits 20 people per day (10 through an online lottery 4 months in advance and 10 walk-in permits through a lottery in person). In 2017 I tried for months for 2018 permits - no luck. However, this is not a big deal as many people try for years or even all of their life. So again last year I decided to try (4 months in advance) for when we'd be in AZ. We had decided that if we didn't win the online lottery we'd hang out in Kanab, UT for a few days and see if we'd have luck at the walk-in lottery. In September, 2018 I applied for 3 dates in January (for $5 you can pick 3 dates) - we would know on October 1. I had completely forgotten about the October 1 date as I was busy getting ready for R2R and was flying out October 1. I quickly checked my e-mail and saw the e-mail with the subject, "Your Coyote Buttes North Lottery Application". Oh yeah, that's right - I applied for this. I expected the regular response of "We're sorry..." but instead the first line said, "Congratulations, Becky Poremba." I jumped out of my seat screaming and jumping up and down. Moxie had no clue what happened to her mom and Tom was asking what the heck was wrong with me. We got it, we got it! In January we packed our bags and headed to Kanab, UT for several days on a new adventure. It was snowing and we weren't even sure we'd make it down the dirt road to the trailhead. The day before nobody was able to make it back to the hike as the roads were in poor condition. Thankfully, we had a one day window in the weather which made a spectacular trip! Most people don't see this place in the snow. They send you a brochure with pictures showing you how to hike (6 miles round trip) back to The Wave. They don't clearly mark the "trail" as they don't want people sneaking back there. Plus there's a $2,500 fine if you get caught without a permit! Ouch! With the Government shut down the office was not open for walk-in permits so today we only had 10 people on the trail! Perfect

We made it to the trailhead! Here we go!

The snow made for some slick conditions on the rocks and some butt sliding

On our way back out we took a quick side trip into a slot canyon into Buckskin Gulch. We didn't have time for the entire hike so this has been added to our list next time we're in the area.

the snow run off was starting to flow into the slot canyon

We made it back out the melted/muddy road. That's why we have Jeep!

We still had a few days left in Kanab so we headed up to Bryce Canyon to see what it looked like in the snow. Even though the Government was still shut down Bryce had volunteers keeping the roads passable and even plowed out a few paths to see the Canyon. Magical!