The Wave is one of the most sought-after hikes. In this post, I will share my tips on how to win a daily lottery permit to hike The Wave in Arizona.
What is The Wave Hike in Arizona?
The Wave in Arizona is an iconic geological formation located in the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness on the border of Arizona and Utah. It is known for its stunning and colorful sandstone rock formations that appear like frozen wave or sand dune. I like to describe it as a frothy Orange Julius that you just picked up from the food court at your childhood mall.
Check out this short video of me hiking The Wave
The Daily Lottery Permit Advantage
The daily permit to hike The Wave in Arizona is definitely the way to go, as it increases your odds since you’re only competing with people within the geofence perimeter. If you score permits using the daily lottery system, you will be required to pick up your permit in person the day before your hike.
How to Win Daily Lottery Permits to Hike The Wave in Arizona
Figuring out how to win a daily lottery permit to hike The Wave in Arizona is difficult. It is a highly restricted area, and when I say highly restricted, they have trail cams and Rangers that are constantly checking to ensure that the people there have a permit to be there.
Understanding the Limited Number of Daily Permits
Recreation.gov only allows 64 people to hike The Wave in Arizona each day. The reason is to help preserve the sandstone’s fragile nature and allow for a more enjoyable experience while you’re there. One party member was asked where their permit was, and we had heard a Ranger there earlier in the day checking for permits.
On the bright side, having the place mostly to ourselves felt rather nice. The stressful part was trying to get a daily permit. We had a group of 5, and we all entered the lottery individually and finally got lucky on the third day. Winning a permit is noted as anywhere from a 3 to 8% chance. Not great odds, so we were definitely lucky. While visiting The Wave in Arizona, I encountered a gentleman who finally won his permit after entering the daily lottery for three weeks straight.
Apply when you are physically within Recreation.gov’s Geofence Perimeter
This is required even to be eligible to win a daily permit to hike The Wave in Arizona. The advanced lottery is statistically much harder to win since you compete with applicants worldwide. Although only 16 permits are issued daily, you have a much higher chance when you are only competing with people who are in proximity to the actual hike and can hike it within the next 48 hours.
Apply for a Weekday
You will have better odds by applying for a weekday than on a weekend.
Apply during Off-Peak Months
The time of year can impact how many people enter the lottery for a particular day. The summer months are very hot, and the hike is uncomfortable if you’re not an avid hiker. The summer months and the winter months tend to be the best odds at winning a daily lottery permit.
Apply with a Larger Group (maximum group size 6 people)
The more people in your group who apply, the higher the odds are that one of you will win a permit. It increases your odds tremendously. The only caveat is that whoever wins a permit for the other 5 people must go on the hike. You also have to pay $9 for each entry you make.
You Won Daily Lottery Permits to Hike The Wave: What’s Next?
Mandatory Safety Briefing Before Hiking the Wave in Arizona
I want to stress that you do not pick up your permits on the actual day of the hike. You have to pick them up the day before your hike date. We actually saw two people show up on the same day we were picking up our permits, and they thought that they were going to be able to hike that same day. They were turned away for not picking up their permits the day before.
You need to ensure you have time set aside to go the day before your hike to pick up your physical permits and watch the safety briefing because they do not want you to go unprepared. This is also where they show you how to get to The Wave. There are two permit offices. One in Page and one in Kanab. Once you have your permit, you will need to attach it to the permit holder’s backpack for the duration of the hike. Daily permit holders have green passes, and those who won the advanced lottery will have hot pink ones.
How to Get to The Wave Trailhead
After winning a daily lottery permit to hike the wave in Arizona and attending your safety briefing, it’s time to go hiking. To hike The Wave in Arizona, you’re going to want to begin at the Wire Pass Trailhead, which is located on Interstate 89 halfway in between Kanab, Utah, and Page, Arizona. I was near Page because I was staying on a houseboat at Lake Powell the week I was hiking The Wave.
We got up early, drove to the trailhead in the dark, and got there just as the sun was rising over the horizon. This made it nice because we could see all the landmarks clearly as we made our way to The Wave.
Need to know How to Get to the Wave in Arizona – Driving & Hiking Directions? I got you covered.
Difficulty of the Hike
I would say that The Wave was a moderate hike. It can be a little hard on the knees because you’re doing a lot of climbing up on rocks, and there is some bouldering involved if you want to explore above and around The Wave (e.g., the second wave, top rock arch, the alcove, and melody arch). When I returned to the parking lot, I had hiked almost 10 miles. If you just go to The Wave and back, it’s about 6.7 miles round trip. However, there’s so much to see from other vantage points.
Other Things to See While Hiking The Wave in Arizona
- Top Rock Arch
- The Alcove
- Melody Arch (and the Window)
- The Second Wave
Navigation
When you go to pick up your permit they’re gonna make you watch a 15 minute safety briefing video. Make sure you’re on time because if you are late they lock the door and turn people away. During the safety briefing you’re going to want to take notes and pay really close attention. I had my phone out and I was taking screenshots to make sure that I was getting the correct information because they do not print out the navigational instructions to take with you.
When you are on the hike, it almost feels like you are on a treasure hunt. They will present you with pictures to look for the next landmark as you make your way there. Luckily in this area, a lot of the rock formations are unique and so it’s easy to pick them out. However, the trail is not well defined and most of the hiking is actually on rock. So, you can’t always see other people’s footsteps to follow. You can download the All Trails app, which I did use on the hike. However, it does make the hike a little bit longer. I would suggest having the All Trails map downloaded on as a backup but would primarily follow the instructional landmarks that are provided during your safety briefing.
Best Time to Visit The Wave in Arizona
The best to visit is obviously in the spring and fall months. For the best experience, you’re gonna want to go in March-May or in September-November. Obviously, the spring and fall are higher peak months, so the lottery is more difficult to win during these times. I have read on a lot of other blogs that the wintertime is also a really great time to go. During the safety briefing they mentioned they have to helivac people out almost weekly due to injury and dehydration, so the Summer months would probably be extra brutal.
What to Bring on The Wave Hike in Arizona
Other than the obvious things you want to bring on a hike like water, snacks, good hiking shoes, good socks, and a backpack with a first aid kit…It’s really important you understand the hike is very remote and there’s no water on the trail. There’s also very little shade and so they recommend that you have about 3.5 liters of water. I brought 3.5 liters of water and I hiked it in September when the high for the day was in the mid 80s (F) and it was still really toasty.
I only had one water bottle left when I reached my car. I actually gave my extra water bottle to another couple who was walking back to their car because they had run out. There was another person we met up there who only had a couple bottles of water and still had to make the big trek back to the parking lot in the middle of the day. I would highly recommend that you bring extra water for yourselves and others because I felt like our group was really able to help other people out who were not as well prepared.
Travel Town Tips
Bring Extra Water
I’ve already highlighted the fact that you need to have a lot of water, and when I say a lot of water, I mean a lot of water (3.5 liters minimum). It is really dry, and there is no shade.
Bring Rubber Footed Tripods
Make sure that if you bring a tripod with rubber feet because they’re very strict about anything that can leave markings in the sandstone. This goes for shoes as well as hiking sticks.
Bring an Extra Battery Pack
If you’re going to be taking a lot of pictures on your phone or even with a DSLR, I would highly recommend that you bring an extra battery pack for your phone because I only had about 5% left when I got back to the car and I was running All Trails app in the background. That was even in airplane mode.
That’s it! That’s all you need to know on How to Win a Daily Lottery Permit to The Wave in Arizona. If you strike out and don’t win the permit, don’t stress. You arent the only one. Here are some other really cool hikes you can do while you wait to enter the daily lottery again.
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