Hiking Coyote Buttes North and The Wave

The last place we visited on our southern Utah trip was "The Wave".  Actually, visiting The Wave was the purpose we planned the trip.  The BLM limits access to Coyote Buttes very tightly and tickets are hard to come by.  Only 20 people are allowed to visit each day, and the permits are divided into 2 groups.  Ten of the tickets are won through a lottery system 4 months in advance.  The other ten tickets are given out at the Kanab Ranger Station each morning. 

I had seen countless pictures of the wave and Coyote Buttes North, but the lottery permit system was daunting and troublesome.  In my mind getting a permit was not worth the jumping through all of the hoops. 

In November, somehow a few permits became available and I was able to snatch them up.  Bo-Yah!  With the permits, the BLM sends a detailed hiking map that also stresses that the route is for experienced hikers only.  With the level of detail in the hiking directions, clearly the BLM's definition of 'experienced' is considerably different than my own. 

We arrived at the trailhead about 9 AM and had a leisurely hike to the Wave.  My GPS showed 2.87 miles one way.  Most of the route is hiking across sandstone slabs, and although there are some ups and downs, generally it's a pretty flat hike- except at the end.  The last 200 yards is a moderately steep climb up a hill of sand, and right at the top is the wave.

WOW!  This place is pretty much a photographer's dream.   Even if you're an amateur photographer like I am (see the overexposed foreground in the picture above), it would take some serious bungling to not come away with several great pictures. 

We spend quite a while exploring and taking pictures.  It's amazingly beautiful, but also is a very localized area.  After visiting, I am able to understand why the access is so restricted.  Open access would leave the Wave completely overrun with visitors. 

I enjoyed some of the larger scenes, but also the fine detailing in the sandstone as well.  Enjoy the pictures. 

We thought about visiting "The Wave 2" further into Coyote Buttes, but my wife wasn't quite feeling up to it as it was her first major hike after giving birth in October.  I can't say I blame her!  She wasn't going to be left out of this one, and we definitely took it at a slower pace, but it was definitely a fantastic first big hike for #2. 

On the way out, we stopped and looked over a trailcam that's bolted to a steel post on the south of the trail.  It's off in the brush a few hundred yards after climbing the first hill on the way in.  If you notice it be sure to go and get a few good mugshots for the BLM Rangers to enjoy! 

Nearest City: Kanab, UT and Page, AZ
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 5 hours
Difficulty: Moderate-
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info: BLM Coyote Buttes Permit Area

Warner Valley Dinosaur Trackway

After stopping by Fort Pearce, we drove two- three miles down the road to the Warner Valley Dinosaur Tracks.   The road, although dirt, is in good shape and is accessible by passenger car. 

From the parking area, it's maybe a quarter mile walk to the north and east to the trackway. 

The tracks were originally discovered in 1982, and since then other investigations have revealed countless more tracks.  The last investigation identified over 400 tracks and 23 trackways.  Most of the identified tracks are thought to be from Grallators - meat eating dinosaurs about as big as a man. 

The biggest tracks  (my favorite ones at this site) were from Eubrontes- a large meat eater that weighted 750-1000 lbs, and was about 12 feet tall. 

Nearest City: St George, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Fort Pearce

We spent an easy day in the St. George area checking out a few new to us sites.  The first stop was at Fort Pearce. 

The fort is in ruins now, but it used to be a stopping spot for settlers coming from the Arizona Strip to St. George. 

We wandered around it and through the ruins.   Sparse accomodations!  It's not a place that travelers would want to spend an extended period of time at- especially being so close to St. George.  

We then wandered down the Fort Pearce Wash to look for petroglyphs.  There are several boulders and overhangs with petroglyphs in the wash. 

There are also numerous "cowboy glyphs" written in axle grease under the overhangs.  One of my favorite was this one of a bearded Mormon. 

Nearest City: Washington, UT
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Kershaw-Ryan State Park

From the Cathedral Gorge area, we headed south to look at some petroglyphs and the Elgin Schoolhouse. 

South of Caliente, we ran into a small problem.  The road was covered in water.  We watched a Ford Explorer drive through it, and judging from the water depth my wife thought it best to not go through.  I wanted to, but going along with the principle of  "Happy Wife = Happy Life" I turned the car around. 

The drive was pretty!  We enjoyed the fall colors and a few old ruins out away from the road. 

We stopped instead at Kershaw-Ryan State Park.  The eastern Nevada state parks run an all-for-one admission deal, so if you go to one, you can go to all of them, and having paid to visit Cathederal Gorge we turned up to see what Kershaw-Ryan was all about. 

I wasn't very impressed with it to tell you the truth.  It's more along the line of a nice community park or county park than a state park.  There's camping, a few hiking trails, volleyball pits and horseshoes to play, but it didn't have the "Wow" factor that I usually associate with state or national parks.  It might be a fun place to go hang out on an evening, but to me it didn't have a real draw.   We hiked a little bit and mostly had the place to ourselves. 

On the way out, there were several large deer herds in a nearby field.  We stopped for about 15 minutes and watched the bucks chase the does around.  A few of the bucks had pretty good racks.  Beautiful animals!

Nearest City: Caliente, NV
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: varies
Difficulty: Easy- moderate
Kid Friendly: Yes
Additional Info:

Bullionville

After spending the better part of an afternoon at Cathedral Gorge, we did a quick 1/4 mile detour up the road to visit the remains of Bullionville.  I guess you could call Bullionville a "ghost town" since all that's left is the cemetary. 

The cemetary is on a hill overlooking the highway.  As in many old towns throughout the west, the cemetary is on a hill because the flat ground was a lot more valuable and was used as building locations for the actual town. 

We wandered throughout, pausing at both the fenced off graves and the ones were only indicated by a ring of stones. 

Inhabitants of Bullionville- Rest in Peace!

Nearest City: Panaca, NV
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 30 Min.
Difficulty:
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: