Ahh The Wave. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then drop everything right now and go look it up. It’s a dreamy landscape full of undulating sandstone that looks like it belongs on another planet. The Wave hike was on my bucket list for over a decade! Why such a long time you may ask? Well, because it just so happens to be one of the most exclusive hikes in the country. A hike I finally accomplished, after 120 advanced lottery attempts and 10 in person lottery attempts, in July 2024.
Fulfilling this hike was one of the pinnacles of my life. So, when it came time to put this guide together (for you!), I wanted to make sure it was one of the best guides out there. More than just the same old same old. We are going to cover EVERYTHING. Soup to nuts. We’re also going to bust some myths along the way. So, this is going to be a long post, but I promise it will be worth it!
What Is The Wave Hike?
What even is “The Wave?” The Wave is a sandstone formation in the Paria Canyon – Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness Area. It’s located on the Utah and Arizona state line. Actually, it’s really cool because the trail starts in Utah, but the formation itself is in Arizona. I have never walked across state lines before, and it felt very Forrest Gump.
The sandstone that forms The Wave was deposited during the Jurassic period 190 million years ago! Then, water run-off helped cut some cracks into the sandstone. Once the water dried up, the wind took over and gave us the formation we see today. What? Crazy right? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Mother Nature is a complete badass. All she needs is a little time.
What’s all this I hear about a lottery?
It is 100 percent true that The Wave hike is only accessible via a lottery system. The Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) insists that this is to protect the delicate nature of the formation. I honestly didn’t find it that delicate, it is rock after all. However, I can see how having a bunch of people constantly walking all over it could be detrimental. The lottery used to only allow 20 people a day! Which is why over those 10 years it was so hard to get. But, they recently increased the entry to 64 people a day.
There are two ways to play the lottery, the advanced lottery and the daily lottery. However, before we get into it, be warned this money does not go to the BLM. Instead, the lottery proceeds go to Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense contractor, who won the government contracting bid and actually runs the app. So, don’t think that your lottery money is going to land conservation. It’s not. It’s going into the U.S. military and defense system.
Okay let’s get back to the lotteries themselves.
The Advanced Lottery
Of the 64 slots, 48 of them (or 12 groups) are won through the advanced lottery. You can enter the advanced lottery either through the Recreation.gov app or on a desktop. The advanced lottery is held 4 months before the hike month. For example, if you’re trying to hike in April, you would apply for the lottery running in December. Then, you would find out in January if you’ve won or not. It costs $9 to play.
Because of the difficulty in winning, I would simply suggest to play the lottery every month, and be prepared for whatever date you win. When playing the lottery, you will select 3 dates as a potential hiking date in that month. On the old website, we used to be able to see a count of how many people have played for each date. That way on the very last day to play the lottery, you could select the least applied for date. However, that’s no longer possible. Therefore, the middle of the week, in the heat of summer, and in the cold of winter are going to be your best chances.
Travel Tip: When applying for the advanced lottery for The Wave hike, I would honestly make a game of it. Close my eyes move my cursor around, and select whatever date my cursor landed on. It’s a lottery after all.
The Daily Lottery
First, let’s start with a little story. The daily lottery at the wave used to actually be fun! A park ranger with a power trip used to call the daily lottery at a BLM center in Kanab, Utah. You used to have to get there bright and early to put your name in the lottery. You would be given a number that corresponded with a bingo ball. And the ranger with the power trip would spin the bingo balls and call out the numbers of the winners. He would do so VERY slowly. Savoring the power. LOL.
But that dude knew how to work a room. He would keep us all on the edges of our seats with anxiety. And this one time, he called the number so slowly that my group thought we had won. Only for him to take a second to say the “teen,” as in “eight-teen,” and us to collapse in despair from having lost yet again. We were number “eight.”
Now, the daily lottery is not nearly as fun. You MUST play on the recreation.gov app, to prove that you are in a geofenced area. The daily lottery is played 2 days in advance. For example, if you’re playing on a Monday, the hike date you’re playing for is on Wednesday. And the results are also shown on the app at 7PM Utah time every day. Blah. So boring. 16 slots (or 4 groups) are given away this way. And, the downside is a lot more people can play this way, because the geofence area is larger.
What Happens If You Win?
Well first of all, if you win one of the lotteries for The Wave hike, you do a happy dance. You just won one of the hardest to get on hikes in the country. Then you claim your permit. After the advanced lottery, you have 15 days to claim your permit. After the daily lottery, you have 24 hours to claim your permit. Your permit has to claim who you are and who is hiking with you on the permit. The people you claim on the permit is also limited to what you put as your “group size,” when you played the lottery.
The permit cost is $7, and if you do not claim your permit it goes poof and disappears into the ether. Believe me, I have been at the office in Kanab, begging for them to give me a permit that someone didn’t claim. It was a no-go.
Travel Tip: Therefore, only play the lottery if you’re able to accomplish the hike. If you change your mind, don’t claim your permit, etc. you will be taking away from someone else. More below on the hike’s difficulty.
You also must do a safety demonstration, and learn how to navigate the trail using a picture map, if you do not have a guide.
How Hard Is The Wave Hike?
My cousin, ended up winning the advanced lottery while we were actually in Kanab playing the daily lottery. She won it for the blistering month of July, one of the toughest months to make the hike. I’m not super in shape but I’m also not super out of shape, and I was able to complete it. The length of the hike out and back is 6.5 miles. We ended up hiking a total of 9 miles because you hike a lot around The Wave area too. Therefore, a good rule of thumb is being able to hike around 10 miles in a day.
The terrain is also not super challenging. You have some thick desert sand in parts, and some smaller uphill scrambles in others. But as long as you can hike 10 miles, I think these are easily manageable. So, in my opinion, the two most important things to consider when preparing for the hike are navigation and weather.
Navigation
Navigation would be my main concern for anyone hiking The Wave trail. There are some trail markers, but paying attention to the safety briefing is going to be key. Because they teach you how to read the map, and identify the landmarks on the map to make sure you’re going the right way. You will probably also want to download the All Trails trail offline on the app just to be safe. People have gotten lost, and even died from dehydration, out in the desert.
Travel Tip: There is a check in book at the trail head where everyone has to sign in and sign out. This is so that volunteers can check and make sure they know who they are looking for on the trail.
Like I said, because we were hiking in July, we decided to leave at 5AM and start the trail super early to beat the heat. For us, this meant hiring a guide, because we were not confident navigating in the dark. A guide can be added to to your permit without taking up one of your slots on the permit. And you can tell the office you have a guide in order to skip the safety briefing. If you are not confident in navigation, I would highly recommend doing this.
Weather
In my opinion, the thing that makes The Wave hike difficult versus less difficult is the weather. Even though we started early and it was cool most of the morning of our hike, it was somewhere around 100 F (38 C) by noon when we got back to the car. The last hour of our hike, it took all my energy just to put one foot in front of the other. And that part of the hike is mostly flat or downhill! The easiest part! I literally felt like the sun was draining all my strength.
To prepare make sure you have the right clothes. Layers are your friend. The desert’s weather is somewhat changeable. Layers to help keep you warm that you can peel off when you get hot are the best thing. Also a hat and sunscreen to help protect from the sun, even in winter. Good hiking shoes are also a must. However, the most important thing is going to be water. You need to have at least a gallon (3 – 4 liters) of water.
Think, containers of water, and those hiking bags with the water bladders in them that can be filled. Also, part of the water should just be cold, so you can start hydrating right away. And part of the water should be frozen overnight so that it melts as you hike. You’ll also want some food and/or snacks, just be sure to have a trash bag so that you take out everything that you brought in.
Travel Tip: There are no restroom facilities on the trail. Only at the trail head. Use them before you set off and then after you get back. Please, don’t pee in the beautiful desert!
What Happens If You Don’t Win The Lottery?
I wanted to put this towards the end because I’m not trying to manifest bad juju for all my readers out here. However, at the end of the day it is more likely that you will not win the lottery. So, the first thing you do is keep playing! You will eventually win it, I believe!
Side note: For all the bloggers out there who exclaim that you won the lottery on your very first try… I will haunt you when I die.
What you definitely don’t want to do is attempt The Wave hike without a permit. First of all, the desert can easily disorient you. Without a map, you could get lost. Secondly, if park rangers catch you hiking without a permit, they can fine you up to $10,000! Yikes. On top of all that, officials could also ban you from playing the lotteries for life, meaning you wouldn’t even have a chance to win legitimately anymore. Trust me when I tell you, it’s just not worth the risk.
If you are playing the daily lottery, there are lots of other hikes around to fill your time!
Other Things To Do Around The Wave
There are lots of cool things to see around The Wave. I think this is where having a guide paid off big time. She was able to take us around the area and show us where the dinosaur and ancient sloth tracks were. Take us to this place called “The Boneyard” which had a bunch of unusually formed rocks. We also did a lot of fun hikes, like running down a sand hill, and climbing down a huge rock face. And on the way back we literally opened the gated fence between Utah and Arizona. It was so cool. I wish I had gotten a picture of me opening the fence from Arizona and going back to Utah.
We also got really lucky, in that it had rained enough earlier, for there to be puddles around The Wave that were actually filled with tadpoles! Who would have thought? Toads in the desert. Our guide had gone to school for biology, and was able to explain a lot of the natural phenomenon around us.
Finally, if you want to be super extra (and lug dresses around) The Wave, you can hire a guide who is also a photographer and do a photo shoot! Since we didn’t win the daily lottery, we did this in Peek-a-boo Canyon instead with Shelly from Amazed Photography. But I would have loved to do it at The Wave. Next time!
One Last Thing
One more thing, when you’re doing your research, you will come across lots of blog posts that recommend “hikes that are similar to The Wave.” There is no such thing. The Wave is a unique formation that doesn’t look like anything else I’ve ever come across. I don’t care what anyone says. It is the miracle of Mother Nature on display.
However, I will say that, there are plenty of people who hike The Wave, only to be disappointed when they get there. People often expect the formation to be bigger or more colorful. But the reality is the formation itself is not that big. It is still beautiful and incredible, but temper your expectations. Don’t let Instagram ruin them. The color you see often depends on the light. As sandstone changes as the light shifts. So, if it’s a cloudy day, The Wave may not look as vibrant. That’s just luck of the draw. Best thing for you to do when (not if) it comes your turn to hike it, is try to get there at sunrise.
That’s it! That’s my soup to nuts guide on this amazing place called The Wave? What did you think of it? Any questions? Let me know in the comments!
