Start: Trail Angel’s house in Kanab
Finish: Wire Pass Trailhead
Daily Mileage: 20.7
Trip Mileage: 579.3
Elevation gain/loss: 1784/2104ft
Note: I included a ton of pictures in this post, but also didn’t post many more. It was hard to decide with the incredible and varied scenery of the day.
After scarfing down a big bowl of oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, Deena drove me back to the trailhead. I could have hitched, but my last two experiences with this road weren’t that great, and I wanted to hit the trail early to allow myself time to enjoy today. I started hiking at the crack of dawn once again.
At first, I followed Buckskin Wash. The wash started as one of those glorified drainage ditches, but canyon walls soon started to grow around it. They progressively grew taller as I went down the canyon. I stayed in the wash for a while, but it turned meandering with occasional potholes, which made for slower going. So, I took to the game trails which generally followed the sides of the wash. Much easier hiking. I did take quite a few pictures in the canyon. It was pretty scenic with red rock and the rising sun. I enjoyed that section and thought that meant there must be a lot more to offer for the upcoming section of Buckskin since there’s an actual trail down that.
I got to the Buckskin trailhead and got on the actual trail down Buckskin Wash. For the first two or three miles, it was relatively bland compared to the part of Buckskin that I had already been on, which is surprising since there wasn’t even a trail in the first section of Buckskin. However, the terrain was transforming as always from a canyon to sculpted and colorful rock formations.
I took a side trip to Edmaier’s Secret, which was about a quarter mile off the trail. It was a fantastic place! There were all sorts of weird rock formations back there. There were white fins that were crisscrossed with lines to make them sort of look like brains, and they were curved around other layers of rock like a coating. There were also very thin fins where the rock had worn away around it but it must have been a harder mineral that didn’t weather as fast. Also, lots of color in the area. I stopped and took lots of pictures and took a break. Definitely a well worthwhile detour and a scenic section of trail, but only a few footprints compared to the yellow brick road going down the main wash. I was definitely the first person here in a while.
Back in Buckskin Wash, the wash did turn into a canyon, which I’ll be following more tomorrow. I went through maybe a mile of slot canyon, and it was a pretty cool place with sand evenly coating the bottom most of the time, and the rock walls coming straight up from the ground, usually less than arms’ width apart. The rocks were rounded and curved as happens with the canyons out here, and it’s always such a fun time to walk down. I took tons of pictures as well. I’m playing with some of the settings on my camera to try to take better pictures in the canyons with the mix of dark and light. That’s pretty difficult still with the huge amount of contrast between the shade and bright sun.
I came to the junction with the Wire Pass Trail, which is a junction of slot canyons. There was supposed to be some petroglyphs at the junction, and I looked hard for them but could not see them. Oh well, they must have been pretty faint because I knew I was looking in the right spot.
I briefly headed down Wire Canyon and climbed out of it to take a shortcut to get to the trail heading into Coyote Butte North Wilderness Area where the Wave is. After climbing up a steep ramp, it was pretty easy to follow a wash which got me back to the main trail to the Wave.
Once I got into Coyote Buttes North, I started taking pictures almost at every stop. There were so many different layers to the rock, all the layers had different colors, and at times they swirled around each other creating fantastic patterns that you wouldn’t think were natural. There was bright yellow, gold, red, white, and tan in alternating layers and swirling together. It was quite beautiful.
I followed the route, but before I went to the Wave, I wanted to make some pit stops for some other points of interest. My first stop was hunting for dinosaur footprints. Deena mentioned there were dinosaur footprints in the area, though she had never been able to find them. Kate had figured out a couple of locations where they were supposed to be and gave me waypoints to them when I was in town. I went to the first waypoint and looked around pretty hard and couldn’t find anything. I looked as closely at my GPS as I ever had, zoomed all the way in, and I was definitely at precisely the correct location. After searching for probably 15 minutes, I gave up and decided to move on to the second location which was nearby.
I got to the second location and immediately saw the footprints. They were very apparent and clear, and it was quite a sight to see. I’ve never seen anything like that in real life, let alone in the wilderness, and it’s a different type of interesting history. After I saw the first set of prints, I looked around and saw many more in the same area. Like they were dancing or running around in circles. I took many pictures and enjoyed the area. It’s such an amazing experience to see a legendary dinosaur sign, even if it wasn’t from the largest dinosaur.
From there, I headed up a little bit further to Sand Cove Wash. There was more swirling rock up there, almost Wavelike. I walked in the wash and took many, many pictures. There’s just so much movement and color in this area; it’s just so spectacular. It’s also surprising that there were very few footprints and none recently in this area. It looks like everyone just makes a beeline for the Wave, and that’s all they see in this area, which is pretty typical but also disappointing (except for me).
The Wave was really cool and pretty much just as pictured with swirling lines from the occasional stream that courses through during flash floods. There was a big full pothole at the bottom that looks like it’s usually filled with just sand. I was expecting the Wave to be clean since I think the pictures I’ve seen of it before I thought were all rock. It was really cool looking though, and I took a bunch more pictures. At this point, my camera battery was starting to get near empty. Quite a feat for only a single day of taking pictures.
I hung out at the Wave for a while until it started getting later when I headed back. The Wave and Coyote Buttes North is surrounded by Wilderness area, but a ranger told me I couldn’t camp in this area for some reason. I don’t understand that. That meant that I had to hike out to the Wire Pass Trailhead and camp there since it was BLM land and then repeat some steps tomorrow for a couple of miles to go back in when my Buckskin Gulch and Paria permit starts. Not the end of the world but slightly annoying. It was an easy walk out though, so it should be an easy walk back in tomorrow morning.
When I got to the trailhead, I started talking to Sassy who attempted the AT last year but had to quit due to COVID shutting down the trail. She was fun to talk to and wanted to help, and gave me a couple extra liters of water since I didn’t see any water today and I’m not going to get to any until tomorrow night. I carried seven liters out of Kanab, and I think I would have had enough, but there were plenty of people at the trailhead now, so I figured I would just ask for some more water just in case. I’m not sure I’ll even need to carry it out tomorrow, but we’ll see what I end up with after dinner and breakfast. It’s about 15 miles before the first reported spring tomorrow.
Set up stealth camping near the trailhead so I can dash right back in tomorrow morning. The night started out warmer, but there’s a clear sky so that can change quickly out here. An absolutely fantastic day today with amazing sites and places to experience! There should be a lot more the same tomorrow. How can you beat slot canyons, dino prints, the Wave, and all these swirling colors and unique rock formations and experience today? If I would have actually found the petroglyphs, there wouldn’t have been much more to ask for.