THE WAVE

Me finally making it to The Wave Typical sand trail heading out toward the saddle on the left. This was unusual because the sand trail was not uphill.
Typical trail looking back.
One view of the wave.

An area around the wave Area in the wave

Stranded


The Wave: I think the wave deserves its own entry. You can find pictures of the wave in many fine art photographic studios but you’ll not find one with me standing in the front.

I had some concerns after going thru Canyonlands with Nesthus and the rough riders. Would my neck be up to a long hike, would the weight of the pack be to much for my shoulders?......Ha!, not a problem, but my poor feet!! After hiking in all that sand and over the edges of all those rocks, not to mention running for cover to get to the marginal shelter while it rains and hails (more on that later).

The day had everything, overcast, blue skies, wind, calm, hot, cold, hail and rain, thunder, lightning. Of course you gotta take the pictures that day sometime so it was a matter of timing for the sun. The sun did appear, but not a lot so I felt lucky to get the ones I did. I did use both digital and film and confident I came back with something I can hang in the bathroom.

I got an early start at 7:00 am from camp here at Lke Powell because the trailhead is about ½ hour down the highway then ½ hour down a dirt road. So I was on the trail about 8:00am. The sun was out and it was a bit warm even then so I was glad I took the 2 liters + to drink. All the way points were programmed into the GPS and it gave excellent results. I had maps from the BLM sent with the permit. They had pictures of the trail but the GPS loaded with 6 points from the maps the BLM gave in the maps really gave me confidence I was holding to the trail.

Finally to the wave it is something to see. How it got the way it is and the colors and contrasts it has is difficult to imagine until the blowing sand hits you with such force you find yourself instinctively covering all your exposed areas of skin. It hurt due to the size of grains the wind could whip up and throw at you. But the whole area is something to see. Given better weather there is a lot to explore in the region so going back is something I would not mind doing. It was difficult to believe I was actually standing there looking at this place I've seen only in photos. I must say, it is better in real life.

After a few hours exploring the area there and dodging blowing sand and rain and waiting for sun (which did show), I decided to head back and take pictures along the way of the many things passed up to get to the wave. The weather had other ideas.

I’ll remember the wave from the pictures certainly but it’s hard to explain how exposed I was on the way back to mother nature. Walking over the rock with the rain starting to come down I could not see any shelter in the form of rock overhangs and the trees are minimal help. In addition the constant thunder and a few bolts of lightning in the distance made the situation seem like out of survivor where you don’t want to get under a tree anyway. But just as it was about to open up I saw this little overhang to crawl under. So I stuffed everything under it and watched as the hail and rain came down.

Trick is knowing when to keep moving I guess. So when things let up I bolted for some other shelter (never did find another) the rain had let up but the thunder kept on. Walking across open rock with the aluminum lightning rod (hiking stick) Peter and family gave me I figured this was it………

So I got a little wet the rest of the hike out but I’m sitting here in the camper (it’s raining) and I am none the worse for getting a bit wet and I got pictures of the wave like I wanted. I do have a lot more pictures but what is posted is just a few.

That’s it for my first hike to the Wave. One hour and 45 or so minutes each way. I think this would be a good winter hike. I would not want to do it in the summer for the same reason I don't want to hike the dunes of Death Valley in the summer. This would be a good Llama hike perhaps with photo gear, llamas carry the photo gear of course.