Made famous by a Microsoft Windows desktop
background, the
Wave is reputed to be one of the tougher hikes in Grand
Staircase Escalante:
people have got lost, been airlifted out and even died
attempting the 6 mile
hike across sand dunes and loose rocks in temperatures up to
110F, so we
thought we’d give it a go.
There are only 20 permits per day, 10 of which are allocated in
an online
lottery 4 months in advance, so we had no chance there. The
other 10 are
allocated by lottery in person at the BLM Visitor Centre in
Kanab (town slogan;
‘The Greatest Earth On Show’), for the next day’s hike, so we
turned up to see
how it works.
After a briefing at 0830, party leaders are invited into a back
room for the
lottery itself. You fill in a form which must have an emergency
contact ‘who
cannot be you or a member of your party – it has happened’ and
your vehicle
index (‘I don’t know my index’, ‘is it parked outside?’, ‘yes’,
‘it’s just a short
walk!’)
At 0900 entries close (0905, ‘can I still enter?’ ‘No’) and you
are allocated
your number (we were no.1), which you are expected to remember.
Respective
numbered balls are put in a little lottery machine (as long as
no-one took
yours as a souvenir!) One time the ranger writing the numbers
missed out a
form, the other ranger giving out the numbers noticed and
brought form 84 back
to fill in position 20 – a swift slightly heated discussion
between the rangers
ensued…
Then the numbers are drawn, 1 at a time….
1….54, party of 1
2…55, party of 2 (7 places left)
3..unbelievably, 57, party of 2 (5 places
left)
4… good grief, 84 – poor number 20 was
dumbstruck
5… 4, party of 4 (1 place left, but, if you
were in a party
of 2 or more you could select 2 people of your group to go ‘for
safety
reasons’)
6…35, party of 2.
So, we were ‘unlucky’ not to get picked, we
did try 3 times,
but there were between 57 and 83 groups representing 130-180
people wanting
places; better than the 2000 entering the lottery each day
online, whose $5
entry fee pays for the whole shebang, but still difficult odds.
