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| Hiking | 14.46 Miles |
3,553 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.46 Miles | 10 Hrs 25 Mns | | 1.77 mph |
| 3,553 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Third trip to The Wave and first time back in ~4 years. The prior visit got short because of thunderstorms, and we had to rush out as the washes started to flood that day. The forecast today had a chance for storms starting late morning, so we were hoping to avoid a repeat. We left the empty parking lot at Wire Pass with headlamps on a little before sunrise with fingers crossed.
The most noticeable difference from prior visits was the amount of water--the washes were moist, and as we turned south and got onto the rockier areas, there were pools everywhere, which I hoped meant that we'd see water at The Wave. On the way there, we looked for a set of dinosaur tracks we hadn't seen before but didn't find them.
Surprisingly, a group of four got to The Wave before us, and even more surprising was the amount of water. One of the guys in their group said he'd learned the hard way that the pool on the north side was thigh-deep. I took my boots off and started wading in before it occurred to me that I should check out the west entrance first. Yep, that was a lot easier--no wading on that side, and it was cool to see that area with so much water. The group had set up tripods and didn't look like they were going anywhere, so we took some pictures and moved on quickly.
The area above The Wave had even more pools as we headed toward Second Wave. Our main goal was seeing the features to the west that we missed last time, and I tried to drop down a steep slope directly toward Sand Cove, but TBoneKathy didn't like the route, so we backtracked and went over to a second dinosaur tracks site, then continued on to the impressive lace rocks at The Boneyard.
The wind picked up and darker clouds started to gather around 10AM, and it looked like we might be headed for a short day and a repeat of our last visit. We hiked down to Sand Cove and took a break there. The clouds weren't getting worse, so we decided to try going up the slope TBK didn't want to go down earlier and circle back up toward The Wave via that route. Sure enough, despite her protestations, she made it  .
More people had gathered around The Wave, and I looked for a route up to Top Rock Arch while TBK waited below. Great views looking down on The Wave from up there, especially with all the water [ youtube video ] . I hiked back down, and with the weather still cooperating, we decided to circle around to the east side.
Our next stop was the Big Mac, then we went up to Melody Arch and The Grotto [ youtube video ] , then on to The Alcove [ youtube video ] . Once again, lots of pools that gave everything a different look than the last visit. Before starting back around, I detoured over to Hourglass Arch, one I hadn't seen before, in an area with a colorful alcove. [ youtube video ]
The weather continued to hold, and we went back to The Wave one more time [ youtube video ] , where the crowds had thinned out, then started the hike out after a stop at Mini Wave. On the way down, we saw a herd of ~15 bighorns run off and gather on a low cliff nearby. We searched one more time for the dinosaur tracks at the first site and had luck this time--a nice trackway in the rocks with multiple prints.
It was a great day...the weather held up, and the crowds were lighter than the previous visits--we didn't really see anyone around any of the features besides The Wave. Our route was circuitous and all over the place over the course of the day as we kept adding stops when the rain didn't materialize: Wire Pass TH → dino tracks site #1 (fail) → The Wave → Second Wave → dino tracks site #2 → Boneyard → Sand Cove → Top Rock Arch → Big Mac → Melody Arch/Grotto → Alcove → Hour Glass Arch → back to The Wave → Mini Wave → dino tracks site #1 (success) → Wire Pass TH. We ended up hitting 13 destinations, including a few new ones for me, and the bighorns were a nice bonus. |
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