Her Odyssey

A friend of a friend asked me to summarize my trip to the Wave in November 2017 for her blog.

Here’s a link to her amazing travel blog and my write up!

https://www.herodyssey.net/blog/try-your-luck-at-hiking-the-wave-in-arizona

Abba-Kanabra

In preparation for our trip and even after we arrived in Vegas, I didn't have the heart to tell Kristin that the town where we would sleep six nights in, was not Kebab, but Kanab. And when I saw a sign that said "Abba-Kanabra" that this would have to be name of our last post and day on this trip.

After saying goodbye to Marie and Steven who headed back to Scottsdale, Kristin and I bummed around the hotel and town. We were in search of a Zion sticker for Kristin's laptop. We stopped by several outdoor gear stores and a gift shop. We ultimately found the sticker at an outdoor gear store / coffee shop, but along the way, we found Denny's Wigwam.

Here, they sold saddles, tchotchkes, but also had a movie set of a western town! Kanab is also known as "Little Hollywood" as this was the base for so many old westerns.

Here's some photos of the movie set / corral outside:

But also within the store, was a Virtual Reality ride of Southern Utah. You can see Kristin below with the goggles. The wall murals were of Lake Powell, the Wave, and Bryce Canyon from left to right. For $15 each, we flew over all of southern Utah. It was a great way to cap off and revisit the weekend. Interestingly enough, the store clerk was a one-armed man who decided to warn us of flying fish when we flew over lakes and proceeded to grab our feet. Only in Kebab....



We lunched at the Kanab Bakery and had a delicious carrot soup and caprese sandwich.



We were specifically killing time waiting for Kristin's replacement American Express card to arrive at the Hampton Inn as she needed it for her trip onward. As we ate lunch, we saw the delivery truck and we headed back to the hotel to get it.

Then we drove to Vegas in our hybrid rental car for the 3.5 hour trek. We had thought about going to Hoover Dam, but we didn't quite make it. Instead, we drove through the Valley of Fire where we watched a beautiful sunset. Here are some photos:







After refilling the tank, we headed to the Las Vegas strip for some dinner. We decided on the Bellagio so we could watch the water fountains - we saw one show as we drove in, watched a full one, and then watched another when we left. Here are some photos of the playful water:





I was hankering for Asian food, so we ate at a pan Asian restaurant called Noodles. Here, Kristin whipped out her Amazing National Parks playing cards and we talked about all the beautiful places!

 

The airport was just a 15 minutes ride away, and we returned the rental car. Kristin and I were departing from separate terminals as she was heading to Guatemala for about another week. I was so grateful for such a wonderful and easygoing travel buddy to join me for such a unique trip. When Marie and I had chatted about the hike in March, Kristin was the perfect person to round out the foursome for Team Double Wave!

So I got on the redeye back to New York after four days of hiking and getting away from craziness of city life. Unplugged and relaxed, I have my raccoon eyes tan proving that I had enjoyed sunny Utah and breathed in the fresh air.

What a wonderful and unique experience with my friends and I'm so glad that we had a safe and relaxing trip. We got to do a once-in-a-lifetime hike twice! Maybe someday we will explore more parks and hike again together!

A Great Day To Be Great

In emails, I kept calling us, "Team Double Wave". The chances that two of us got in on our first try was unbelievable. I even went out and bought real lottery tickets on August 1st, as I felt like I was on a hot streak! And today, the four of us get to experience this awesome place again. I felt inspired, excited, and nervous (not as much as Marie) that we were going to trek an unmarked trail. So I am reminded of the inspiring quote on the Hampton Inn bathroom door - "it's a great day to be great!"

This time, we didn't have a guide, but the map provided by the Bureau of Land Management and our memories from Thursday. We ventured out cautiously, and arrived at the Wave right on track.

Despite meeting an odd photographer, our experience was calming and filled with photos as we enjoyed the scenery. Here are some photos:

 

 

Team Double Wave! Standing...



Kneeling...



So we leave the Wave, for the last time to venture out and explore more of the area:

Out in the open land:

 

In front of one of the only trail markers:

We decided today that we would explore Wire Pass Slot Canyon in Buckskin Gulch. We struggled to find the best way to get into the slot canyon, did some scrambling at heights that Marie was a bit uncomfortable, but finally made it in. Here's a photo of us trying to figure it out:



Here's a picture of Steven, Marie, and Kristin pointing upwards from where we came:



Here are some photos exploring this raw slot canyon - definitely not as pretty and polished as Antelope, but still awesome and it felt adventurous (remember, a great day to be great!):

We kind of had to climb out of this slot canyon too:

After our adventure, we made it back to the car, and drove the one hour back to the hotel. Kristin and I dipped into the Jacuzzi one last time and for our last dinner in Kanab, we decided to return to the Rocking V Café. We imbibed the most we had all trip and chatted it up for our last night in Southern Utah. We surely lived it up and experienced so much in this unique region!

Back to Page

So I was in Page back in March, and had told Marie about the beautiful things I saw here. After three days of straight hiking, we opted to do an easy sight-seeing day. We piled in the car and dove southeast for about an hour and past Glen Canyon Dam to Page - a jumping off point for trips to Lake Powell, Glen Canyon Dam, and Rainbow Bridge.

I had visited the famous Upper Antelope Canyon in March, so we reserved for a slot canyon tour of Lower Antelope Canyon. They are different experiences as for Lower, you have to climb down and is much narrower than upper, as you can tell by the photo below:

Nonetheless, neither experiences disappoint as you can tell by the photos below:

 

 

 

 

 

 Apparently, this was a Windows 8 wallpaper option:

And our guide pointed out images and shapes that people have seen in the slot canyon....

The Rocky Mountains:



An old man face on the bottom:



A seahorse formation:



The smiling shark from the movie, Finding Nemo:



The New England Patriot mascot:



 Pocahantas:



Kristin climbing out of the slot canyon:





We then drove over to Horseshoe Bend Canyon where the Colorado River does a complete U-turn. There was a lot less people than last time as it was not sunset - but the steep drop-offs still are pretty scary. Here a few photos:





We were on our stomachs for some photos to play it safe:





I remembered eating a delicious meal at State 48 which was a gastropub in Page when I was here in March. So we ended up there for lunch and had kimchi fries and tacos, before we headed back to Kanab. On our way back, I wanted to stop at the Toadstool Hoodoos that Steven M. and Leann had mentioned. Steven opted to take a nap in the car, while Marie, Kristin, and I explored the area which felt like another planet!

We ran into some other hikers with their dog - they told us between the online and walk-in, they have tried to get into the Wave hike over 200 times! Marie mentioned we got in twice as I tried to elbow her and we were just glad they didn't ask us how many times we had tried...

Back in Kanab, we picked up groceries for our lunches tomorrow and ate dinner at Peekaboo Café for some pizza and salad. The owner raved about the Peekaboo slot canyon which was apparently nearby. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest for our last day of hiking!