The Wave (Coyote Buttes North)

Win the lottery, walk into the photograph

⏱ Full day👤 All ages$

What makes the Wave unusual is how small it is. The famous trough is only a few dozen yards long, but the cross-bedded Navajo sandstone has been eroded so cleanly that every layer reads like a contour line, and the effect is mesmerizing in person. Around it, Coyote Buttes North is full of smaller wonders — the Second Wave, Melody Arch, brain-rock domes, dinosaur tracks — and permit holders who arrive early have the whole area to explore within the day. Light matters enormously: midday flattens the colors and fills the trough with glare, so most photographers aim for late morning shadows on the walls or the last soft hour before they must hike out by sunset, since overnight stays are not allowed.

The lottery is the hurdle. Only 64 people a day are allowed into Coyote Buttes North, and about three-quarters of those spots go through the advance lottery, which you enter roughly four months before your target month on Recreation.gov. The rest go through the daily lottery: if you are already near Page or Kanab, you apply from your phone, while inside the designated geofenced area, two days before the date you want to hike. Each application carries a small non-refundable fee, and a single application can cover a small group, so friends traveling together should apply as one party. Odds are long in spring and fall and somewhat better in summer heat and winter cold — flexibility on dates is the best strategy. Winning permits come with a group size limit and route information; read it carefully, because people get lost here every year, and rescues in summer heat are serious.

Practicals: from Page, drive west on US 89 to House Rock Valley Road, then south about eight miles of dirt to Wire Pass. The road is fine for ordinary cars when dry and treacherous after rain. Carry far more water than you think, plus sun protection and a GPS track. Dogs and their rules differ by area; check the BLM permit information. Combine the Wave with a dawn start and an evening back in Page — or with Wire Pass's slot section, which shares the trailhead.