GRAND STAIRCASE ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT

 

We went here with the mission to get permits to hike The Wave. If you haven’t heard of this hike, google “The Wave Grand Staircase” and take a look at the pictures. It's insane. So here’s the deal…only 20 people per day are allowed to hike in the Coyote Buttes North area. 10 of those spots are done thru an online lottery 4 months prior. The other 10 spots are done in a lottery for those who show up the day before they want to hike.

We woke up bright and early two days to try our luck in the lottery for those 10 spots. Each day there were 40-50 people who showed up for those 10 spots. As luck would have it, we didn’t get the chance to hike to The Wave.

Instead, we ended up in this cool slot canyon, Willis Creek. It was kind of like a mini version of the Narrows in Zion National Park. We camped at Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park, which was an off the beaten path awesome campground, with free hot showers! 

Now we head to Flagstaff to start our 12 day/13 night rafting/camping trip thru the full Grand Canyon. Really excited for this trip.

- Jonathan