Fritz Pölking

The Man Who Didn’t Have a Clue

  In December of 2002 I took a week to photograph the natural arches at Arches National Park in Utah , using Moab as headquarters. A photographer colleague who was taking pictures there at the same time told me that the famous Antelope Canyon was only a 5 hour drive away and that a visit there was always worthwhile.

After I had been taking pictures of arches I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to do something different for a change and went on an excursion to Page City , Arizona .

The Antelope Canyons are located next to this city and easily accessed from there to take pictures. There are more then enough pictures of these canyons that have been made but it is always a lot of fun to take pictures there.

At work in Antelope Canyon

During some shopping at a local supermarket I discovered a badly printed postcard with a motif I found fascinating: there were white lines drawn through red sandstone in a waves.

 

No one was able to answer my question where this place was. So I took the postcard and went off to the local Chamber of Commerce to show it there

They were not able to tell me either where exactly that place was, but it was supposed to be in the Paria-Canyon-Vermillion-Cliffs-Wilderness-Area which in turn is part of the Grand-Staircase-Escalante-National-Monument. A huge nature preserve, bigger then Yellowstone National Park and 10 times the size of Zion or Arches National Park and of which hardly anyone in Germany has ever heard of. I was told it would be best to ask at the ranger station between Page and Kanab. The local rangers there would be able to tell me where the place I was looking for is and how to get there.

On the back of the postcard it said: Vermillion Cliffs, situated at the mouth of Paria Canyon .

I also found the ranger station between Page and Kanab. Unfortunately it was closed due to the minimal tourist traffic in the month of December 2002.

After my return to Germany I searched the Internet for “Vermillion Cliffs” and “Coyote Buttes” and “Paria Wilderness” and lo and behold the hits came pouring out.

The result was that only 20 visitors per day received a permit to visit “The Wave” – that was what the motif I saw on the postcard turned out to be called - . You have to register the day before, starting at 9 am at the ranger station between Page and Kanab (if it is open) and the first ten receive a permit for the next day. If there are more then 10 people there at nine, a raffle decides.

Another ten can receive a permit 6 months earlier through the internet. At exactly 12 o’clock the lines are opened for that date in six months and the 10 fastest people get their permit for that day. Of course a lot can happen in six months and it usually turns out that only half of the ten people are actually there at that specific time to pick up the permits and the rest (the ones who did not show up) are not distributed to the waiting people there but are just voided.

I tried to register on the 1st of April for the 18th of October 2003 to get a permit for two people and was lucky enough to be successful.

The second try to get permits for the 17th or 19th was unsuccessful since you can only register for one day at a time. By the time you enter all the info rmation, CC, etc. and get to the next day, all the permits are gone. According to my experience the entire 310 max internet permits for “The Wave” during any specific month half a year later are gone within 2 minutes, at least during the summer months. It looks a bit better during the winter as the print out below shows from the month of October 2003 looking at January 2004. On the 14th, 28th, and 29th  it seems to look especially good. It looks like there are some very tough naturalists out there though who booked on New Years Day and would leave their bed at 4 am in the morning to go out into the wilderness.

 

Available entry spaces for Coyote Buttes North (The Wave)
As of: October 21, 2003 at 7:16 AM Mountain Standard Time
The number in RED indicates the number of available entry spaces for that day. 
January  2004
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
        1
FULL     
2
FULL     
3
FULL     
4
FULL     
5
FULL     
6
FULL     
7
3     
8
FULL     
9
FULL     
10
FULL     
11
FULL     
12
FULL     
13
8     
14
10     
15
8     
16
FULL     
17
FULL     
18
FULL     
19
FULL     
20
8     
21
4     
22
8     
23
3     
24
FULL     
25
FULL     
26
1     
27
FULL     
28
10     
29
10     
30
FULL     
31
FULL     

My strategy was to take the confirmed permit for the 18th of October 2003 , get to Page a few days in advance in order to try my luck at the 10 permits given out in the morning several days in a row before and after the 18th. One day in that region does seem to be cutting it a bit close. To go wandering around the preserve on your own is not allowed and not really possible, besides that, you don’t get a map to find this place. Not even a photocopy of a map is handed out. The rangers, after checking your permit, show you with the help of photographs and special landmarks where and how to make your way to this place, which is about a two-hour hike away (without rucksack and photo equipment it is 1.5 hrs). Then they put all the info rmation away and lock them up… cut.

It is hard to find “The Wave” in spite of having viewed the card and pictures. Some advice for you if your are interested in going: be at Wire Pass-Trailhead while it is still pitch dark and join the first group that starts off at dawn. You should take 2-6 liters of water with you depending on the time of the year and temperatures – per person.

October 13th, 2003

On the way from Death Valley to Page City on the 13th of October I took a little detour, taking the road from Kanab to Page and stopping by the ranger station. Maybe there were still some permits to be had at 3 pm for the next day…. there weren’t. Seven had been given out at nine and the remaining 3 were gone an hour later. In answer to my question how the next day might look like, the ranger said: not so good. There had already been many inquiries and that the 10 permits for the following day, the 15th, would more then likely be given out through a raffle. Didn’t sound so good…..

October 14th, 2003

Upon arrival at the ranger station a number of cars were already parked there and I did not like that much at all. When the drawing started, 9 permits were already all filled out on the counter.

A request for one person, a request for three people (you can fill out requests for up to 6 participants) and seven requests for two people. That morning 18 people wanted to go to “The Wave” but only 10 would be allowed.

First a ticket for two people was drawn three times (mine was unfortunately not among them) then one for the request of three people and that left only room for one more.

The ranger asked the remaining people with requests of two people if they wanted to withdraw or stay in the raffle. If you stay in the drawing only one of the two people could go and the second had to stay in the hotel, that is how strict the practice is there. So all the pairs withdrew and the only one left was a single Japanese who ended up being the 10th in the group that day.

October 15th, 2003

Today, again, numerous cars were parked at the ranger station by the time we got there and I was afraid that the drawing would go like it did yesterday. As it turned out, thank God, it was one single large group that already had permits and were only looking for the directions to get there. At 9 am there were only six applicants for the 10 permits there, so that everyone received a permit to visit “The Wave” the next day.

This October’s record of applying visitors at 9 am to get one of the 10 permits was 45 people the week prior. So there is no way to estimate in advance how the chances for the following day are

Our two permits: the red ones are issued 6 months prior trough the internet lottery and the green ones a day prior to the visiting date.The top part has to be clearly visible in your windshield at Wire Pass-Trailhead and the bottom part has to be attached to your rucksack with the provided wire.This way the ranger controlling the area and parking lot can immediately seeif you have a permit, which one. Seems to be very “German” to me and “un-American-like” meticulousness.

  October 16th   and 18th, 2003

Now we had two chances to take photos in the area of “The Wave”, one through the lottery at the ranger station on October 15th, and one through the internet lottery on the 1st of April.

We started out in Page at 5 am on both days, were at Wire Pass-Trailhead an hour later, at 6 am , where we had to park our car in order to hike for 2  hours with rucksack and tripod until we reached “The Wave” at about 8 am and were able to start work. These times change depending on the time of year and when the sun rises.

Here are some results:

 

  Those of you who are interested in “The Wave” can find more info rmation under:

www.karsten-rau.de

http://members.chello.at/mai/berichte/2001_wave.htm

http://www.dankat.com/swhikes/wave.htm

You can find the internet lottery to apply 6 months in advance here:

https://www.blm.gov/az/asfo/paria/index.htm

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