Cedar Breaks National Monument has been called a mini-Bryce Canyon and I can see that.
The next morning we were up early to try our luck at getting a permit to hike The Wave. We had done our research and knew that the best time to try for it was during the winter except around holidays. Specifically, Fridays during the winter are good because that is when they give permits for Saturday, Sunday and Monday as they are closed over the weekend. When we got there, there were about 100 people applying and considering that they were giving out 30 permits our odds were pretty good considering that the number of applicants can easily be double to triple that in the high season.
Notice anything about this picture? Our kids were the only young people in the room - and they were the youngest by about 20 years! We had figured the hike would be a bit of a stretch for us since it was 6 miles. We generally save most hikes of that length for when our kids are older but with The Wave only getting more and more popular we figured we had better try for it now.
When we got to the Kanab visitor center the ranger explained how difficult the hike to The Wave really was. The 6 mile hike was over rough terrain in an unmarked wilderness with just a map to guide us. He said we would need to be prepared to survive 24 hours out in the wilderness because if we got lost and didn't get back before nightfall the rangers wouldn't likely be able to rescue for 24 hours. He said that people had died out there after getting lost. He also said to be on the look out for mountain lions as well as rattlesnakes. And if we were still interested to fill out the application and the lottery would occur in 30 minutes. It seemed like a bit more of a hike than we had initially thought to say the least but we thought, hey what's the harm in applying, how likely is it that we actually get a permit.
Then we actually did get a permit for later that weekend! We were completely stoked! We were also incredibly nervous. We had never hiked an unmarked trail before at all; we hadn't hiked over uneven terrain before and 6 miles with our kids on our back, enough water, and enough warm gear and food to survive 24 hours was more than just a stretch for us; it was probably the hardest hike we had ever done as a family. Our priorities in order were
- Stay alive
- Get back to our car before nightfall
- Make it to The Wave
After going through the application process we had a tour of Lower Antelope Canyon scheduled for later in the day in Page, Arizona so we crossed the state line and scooted down to Arizona. Antelope Canyon was in this book I had checked out from the library called Destination of a Lifetime. It's a great book - beautiful pictures and some really awesome looking destinations. Seeing Antelope Canyon in that book actually inspired this whole trip. And the book didn't let me down. Antelope Canyon really was a destination of a lifetime.
That's not noise in the middle of the picture. That is dust visible in the sunbeam.
We had a great guide through the canyon that was awesome enough to take lots of family pictures for us. We really enjoyed our experience with Ken's Tours. (No, I'm not being paid by them. We just enjoyed it so much, I have to recommend them.)
There are 2 Antelope Canyons - Lower and Upper. We chose to do Lower Antelope Canyon since it was more affordable and less busy. Lower Antelope Canyon is the brighter of the two; it lets in more light. Upper apparently is better for seeing stronger sunbeams at certain times of the day and year. We were not going at the right time of year for that though so that pro was irrelevant for us.
There really was this gorgeous natural sunbeam that created almost a spotlight affect right there. The pictures don't do it justice. You have to see the place for yourself. We just walked through it in complete awe.
After completing our tour, we headed to Horseshoe Bend. There was a short easy hike to the lookout, which was nice for the kids. The interesting thing about this place is you can't see the lookout at all until you are right up on it. The ground is just super flat along the hike and surrounding Horseshoe Bend and then all of a sudden you come up on this massive chasm. There was absolutely no guard rail or anything too and the lookout was quite busy. Thankfully Tessa wasn't interested in it and was happy to sit 50 feet or so away from the chasm and just play in the sand while David and I took turns marveling at the lookout.
One funny thing that happened during this hike was a large group of Asian people wanted to take pictures with Tessa and Jenny. They had their pictures taken with 10-15 Asian women. I tried to ask what country they were from but they didn't speak English so I don't know. Tessa was a bit confused by what was going on but she was a good sport and smiled and even gave the peace sign.
As confused as Tessa was with this uncommon experience, she smiled and knew what to expect when it happened a second time the very next day at the Grand Canyon!
The Grand Canyon was hard to photograph. It was just so massive. Again, the photos don't do it justice at all!
Hard to believe that just the river below could create all this! It's so amazing to me. At the visitor's center, they talk a bit about the Colorado River and now next time David and I come to the Grand Canyon we want to white water raft on the Colorado River. We'd also like to actually hike down into the canyon too at some point. So we're definitely planning on coming back.
It had been pretty warm all day but we spur of the moment decided we wanted to see sunset over the Grand Canyon and didn't have time to go back to get our big jackets so we had to improvise a way to keep the kids warm enough as it started getting cold once the sun started going down.
Sunset over the Grand Canyon at the Yaki Point overlook was totally gorgeous though and completely worth braving the cold for.
We had been planning on staying two days at the Grand Canyon and driving back to Page, Arizona Sunday night but since we gotten the permit to hike The Wave we woke up early and drove the 3 and a half hours to the Wire Pass Trailhead to start hiking The Wave as early as we could. The ranger had recommended starting hiking by 8:30 or so to be as safe as possible by providing as much time as possible to get back to your car before nightfall. We got to the trailhead and started hiking at 10:30am.
We were packed down pretty heavy. We had winter gear (big winter coats, boots, mittens) incase we got lost and had to spend the night. We also had enough food and water to survive 24 hours. It was such an exhilarating hike. I loved the challenge of the difficult terrain. I enjoyed the wild nature unmarred by even a hiking path. The challenge of following the map looking for specific natural landmarks made it feel like we were almost on a treasure hunt. It was so fun and I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my birthday.
It took us about 2 hours to make it to The Wave. When we got there, The Wave was amazing. The colors and lines were stunning.
The girls enjoyed just ambling around and playing in the ridges and folds of the rock. Jenny would walk around saying "Woah! Woah!"
Tessa is hiding in the folds here and peeking out!
The corny classic - surfing on the big wave!
Weirdly getting back to our car was more difficult than getting to The Wave like the ranger had warned us. At one point we realized we had hiked too far West and would have to basically scramble down a cliff to continue Northward toward our car or backtrack to cross the cliff area more safely. So we backtracked a bit but it wasn't bad. We had budgeted extra time so we were able to make it back with plenty of sunlight.
By the time we got back to our car, we were exhausted though. It was probably the most difficult hike we have ever done as a family. But it was probably the most fun and rewarding hike I've ever done too.
The next day, it was time to start heading back home. We stopped at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park to break up the drive and do a lower intensity, fun stop for the girls. They totally loved it! They had a ball digging, running around playing tag, making sand angels, and drawing pictures in the sand with sticks. There were these huge sand dunes that looked like they were straight out of the Sahara.
It was a great trip. It was so awesome to go on such an epic trip especially over the weekend of my birthday. I turned 29 this year and it was so nice to spend my birthday hitting some major bucket list items! It may have to become a birthday tradition even. :)
