On the evening of October 16th, right down to the wire, the US government resolved their political impasse and came to terms on raising the debt ceiling. As a result, the government shutdown came to an end. The next morning the Bureau of Land Management office was open in Kanab. We decided to hang around a little later than usual on Thursday morning to find out what was happening with the hiking permits into The Wave. The first ten people in the door were issued permits for that day, to hike to The Wave. We didn't quite make the cut and in hindsight, it was a good thing. By the time the permit process and the orientation were done with it was after 10:00AM, a little to late to get in a full day on the hike. We did put in our names for the lottery for hiking permits for the next day...
The BLM issues 20 permits per day for hikers to go into the North Coyote Buttes area, more specifically, the trail to "The Wave". Ten of these permits are issued on line, two or three months in advance. The remaining ten are awarded by a lottery system, at the BLM office in Kanab, one day prior. There were 18 groups, consisting of a total of 34 hikers, that applied for the permits on this day. We put in our name and hung around for the draw, hoping for the best. The first name drawn was that of an individual hiker, leaving nine more permits available. The next name drawn was for a couple, and the third name was for another individual. At this point there were six permits left... Then, my name was drawn, so Rob, Brad and myself were able to go. We were issued a permit for the next day, and had to stay and sit through a detailed orientation. We were excited at winning the lottery, and looking forward to our hike the next day. As it turned out is was a good thing that we did not try and sneak into the restricted area while the US government was shut down. Even though the BLM offices were shut down and the areas officially closed, the park rangers remained on duty. During the nearly two week long shut down they issued 147 trespassing tickets, each accompanied by a fine of $1000...!
Once everything was wrapped up at the BLM office it was nearly 10:00AM. With the late start we decided to head out to the Coyote Buttes area and explore the un-restricted Wire Pass trail. This area required a permit, at a cost of $6 each. But, these were not limited in quantity, and were simply purchased at the trail head. We headed east on Highway 89, turned south on House Rock Valley Road, and drove the rough 8 miles down to the Wire Pass Trail Head. We registered, paid our fees, and started walking down the wash. We spotted a little lizard scampering over the rocks as we started our hike. Then a short time later we came to the spot where the trail to "The Wave" branched off out of the wash. We left this for tomorrow, and continued on down the Wire Pass wash...
A short time later, the wash began to enter a narrow slot canyon. This was our first experience with formations of this type. Soon we found ourselves in a very narrow and deep sandstone formation. It became very obvious why no one should hike this trail when rain is threatening.
This slot canyon, though only a couple hundred yards long, was pretty spectacular, and not without a couple of obstacles. There were two locations where the canyon had become blocked with rocks and there was a drop of of about 6 feet that had to be negotiated. Nothing overly complicated, but a bit of a challenge with heavy backpacks and large tripods [piles of lumber, as Brad referred to them...]. Later the slot canyon opened up a bit, and then pinched off again for a short distance before making it to the confluence with Buckskin Gulch. At this point there was a spectacular arch and a small amphitheatre. It was an awe-inspiring place and we spent some time here making photographs. On a vertical rock face right at the confluence there was a small petroglyph panel. This was right down at the base of the cliff, near the level of the wash. Apparently the wash had become infilled with sand over the past couple centuries, as erosion worked it's ways on the landscape. It is believed that these petroglyphs were originally four or five feet above the floor of the wash.
From here we attempted to continue on down Buckskin Gulch. The wash continues for many miles, eventually joining the Paria River, and then continuing on to the Colorado River. But, a short distance down the gulch we came across a pool of water. In order to continue on this hike this pool, as well as numerous others further on, need to be waded. Not having the proper footwear, and considering that this particular pool appeared to be about shin deep, we turned back. We explored back up the Buckskin Gulch and through the slot canyon of this tributary. This was further down the same wash that we had explored earlier in the week. There were some interesting formations in this area as well, and we took a couple more photographs with the big cameras...
At this point it was becoming late in the afternoon. We decided to retrace our steps back to the confluence and back up Wire Pass to where we had parked the truck. We met up with a couple of hikers that had come all the way down Buckskin Gulch and were faced with the long return hike back to their vehicle. We offered them a ride back to the Buckskin trailhead, if the wished to follow us back out through Wire Pass. They graciously accepted. It was a little more of a challenge negotiating the obstructions in Wire Pass going in the upstream direction. We eventually made our way back to the truck. We reorganized our gear so that there was room for the extra passengers, and drove the 4 miles back up to the Buckskin trailhead. We dropped off the two hikers at their vehicle and then hit the road back for Kanab. A short distance later as we crossed through a small wash, we came upon this Tarantula crossing the road in the evening light...
It was about 3 inches in diameter, including her legs and I have some photographs of her beside an American 25 cent piece for reference. After this brief stop we pounded the pavement back to Kanab. This was followed by the usual evening ritual... something to eat and reload film holders in preparation for tomorrow. We were all excited about our upcoming hike to The Wave.
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