After a long, stressful season at work, I felt the extreme need to get out of the city and disappear into the outdoors for a few days. It was still a little early in the season for the high mountains, so I decided to head north toward the Arizona-Utah border and finally try to check something off my list that had been sitting there for years: The Wave.
I figured even if I didn’t get lucky in the permit lottery, there would still be plenty of desert adventure to be found.
5/9/26 – Northbound
A smooth drive took me through Flagstaff, Page, into Utah, and eventually into Kanab. The plan was simple:
- Enter The Wave lottery for 5/11 once inside the geofence area
- Stay at Starlight Campground
- Explore whatever looked interesting along the way
Unfortunately, I didn’t get selected for The Wave lottery that evening.
Not ready to give up yet, I entered again for 5/12 and booked another night at Starlight Campground.
After getting camp set up, I headed over for a quick hike through the Sand Caves. A pretty cool warm-up hike and a good way to stretch the legs after the drive.
5/10/26 – Slot Canyons & Hoodoos
The next morning I drove out to the Wire Pass Trailhead and hiked down through Wire Pass into Buckskin Gulch. Just under 9 miles total and absolutely worth it.
The towering slot canyon walls were incredible, and every turn looked like something out of another planet. Even though The Wave gets all the attention, this hike alone made the trip worthwhile.
On the way back, I squeezed in a couple shorter stops:
Classic southern Utah scenery everywhere you looked.
Back at camp, I checked my email and saw the message I had been hoping for:
I got a permit for The Wave
Immediately paid the fee and spent the rest of the evening pretty stoked about the next day.
5/11/26 – Permit Day & Moving Camp
Started the morning with the required permit pickup briefing at the Kanab GSE Visitor Center, a good stop anyway for some cool info about the area, and some good recommendations from the staff. After that I spent some time relaxing around Jacob Hamblin Park. I wanted to make it an easy day and relaxing in the shade and great temps was fantastic!
One unexpected highlight of the trip was lunch at Brown Box Café — grilled cheese and tomato basil soup. Honestly, five stars. Unsurprisingly, it ended up being the only meal I ate indoors during the entire trip.
Later in the day I drove out to White House Campground to scout it out. Nice campground with good access to trails, but not much shade and it does charge a fee.
Before heading to camp, I made another quick stop at The Nautilus, which turned out to be a surprisingly cool little hike. Kind of hard to take a picture of though.
That evening I relocated to Stateline Campground, a primitive free campground right on the Arizona-Utah border. Only eight campsites total, with nice ramadas and pit toilets. Simple setup, but an awesome basecamp for The Wave.
5/12/26 – The Wave
I arrived at the Wire Pass Trailhead around 6:30 AM Arizona time. It has two huge parking areas, I can’t imagine it ever totally fills up.
The route-finding map they give you during the permit briefing was actually super helpful, and I was glad I also had the OnX app downloaded. The trail out there isn’t always obvious.
When I finally reached The Wave, the first thing that surprised me was that it was smaller than I had imagined. But even with that, it was still incredibly impressive in person. The colors, curves, and texture of the sandstone almost don’t look real.
One of the best parts of the entire experience was the timing. While I was in the main section of The Wave, I only saw four other people. I’m convinced getting there early made all the difference.
As I explored the area above The Wave, I even spotted a mountain goat and her kid moving through the rocks.
By the time I started hiking back out, more groups were arriving, and it became obvious why the permit system exists. It’s not a very large area, and without the strict visitor limits it would feel completely overrun.
It’s definitely not a place you should try and sneak into with no permit!
Back at camp, I started debating my next move.
Zion sounded tempting, but campsites inside the park were full. Other options felt too far away. Eventually I settled on one final Arizona adventure:
Flagstaff. Canyon Vista Campground. Mt. Humphreys.
Perfect.
I grabbed a great campsite, set up the big tent, and spent the evening relaxing and enjoying having absolutely nowhere to be.
5/13/26 – Mt. Humphreys
The next morning I drove up to the Arizona Snowbowl and started hiking toward Mt. Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona.
I always dislike the long section of hiking in the trees, but once you’ve above tree-line it’s an amazing high mountain experience!
The winds had to be gusting into at least the 50 MPH range and nearly knocked me over multiple times on the summit. Despite that, there were still some graduates up there taking graduation photos in their gowns at the peak, they are lucky to still have their caps!
After reaching the summit and surviving the wind tunnel, I made my way back down and returned to camp for one final night next to the fire.
Exactly the kind of reset I had needed.
5/14/26 – Heading Home
Packed up camp and headed back south feeling refreshed, accomplished, and honestly excited to get home to my wife and pets.
Final Thoughts
This trip ended up being exactly what I needed.
I finally checked off The Wave, something I’d wanted to do for years, but more importantly it gave me a few days of clarity away from the noise of everyday life.
Desert slot canyons, mountain summits, campfires, empty roads, and just enough unpredictability to make it memorable.
Sometimes you don’t realize how badly you need the outdoors until you’re finally back in it.
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