The Lottery for "The Wave"

Besides the beautiful scenery and great hiking in the area around Kanab, Utah, our main motive to come here is to see "The Wave." It's been on our bucket list since we first saw pictures of this natural phenomenon. It is located in a wilderness area in northern Arizona, and we want to see it for ourselves.

Unknown to most people until the 1990's, this little sandstone alcove has gotten the attention of the world.  A European film crew illegally filmed The Wave. When it was shown throughout the continent, there was a sudden influx of foreign visitors into the area. Likewise, a Salt Lake City television station did a news clip about The Wave, and the overwhelming response crashed their website. Suddenly the world knew about The Wave, and people from all over the world wanted to see it for themselves.

The wilderness agency had to put measures in place to preserve this beauty from the destruction that large crowds can do to a natural area. Severe limitations were placed on the number of people allowed into the wilderness area known as North Coyote Butte.

The first limits allowed only eight people to visit per day. During the winter Olympics held in Utah in 2002, that number was increased to 20 people allowed into The Wave per day. Ten of those are awarded four months in advance via an internet lottery. The remaining ten spots are made available the day before in a lottery held in the visitor center in Kanab. Obviously more than ten people show up for this lottery.

At 8:30 a.m., a ranger gives an orientation speech that includes phrases like "you must be able to hike more than six miles on uneven terrain in wilderness conditions, finding your way through the desert without a marked trail." The most sobering warning ends with, "people have died on this hike." If still interested, the crowd is invited into the lottery room. We noticed that even with that tough talk, the ranger didn't scare anyone away from the lottery.

In the lottery room, every group is required to fill out one application. So we filled out one application that included both our names. A group can have from one to six people, but no one can have their name on more than one application. Each application is assigned a number, and we had 59 groups of varying sizes that wanted to go to The Wave on our first morning lottery. The ranger called off each application name, making sure everyone was present, and assigned each a number. We were lucky #22.

That means that 59 bingo balls are loaded into the hopper, so every group has the same random chance to win the lottery. As you can tell from the picture of the crowd, this is an international group. Just like in the national parks we have visited, a large percentage of the group are Asians. We saw from the boxes behind the desk that information is available in Spanish, Mandarin, French, German, Japanese, and even English.

At exactly 9:00, one of the rangers begin spinning the bingo balls and drawing the numbers. Remember that there are ten hiking spots available--not ten groups. So if the first number drawn is for an application with six people, then suddenly there are only four spots left. There is polite applause for the excited winners, or groans from the crowd when a large group wins. When the tenth hiker spot is won, around 150 people leave the room disappointed and sad. We know because we were two of them. The winners stay for orientation and hiking instructions and get their coveted permits. They have actually won a spot to go hiking for the following day, so that means they have the rest of the day to prepare for that epic hike. 

We were dedicated to go through this process every morning, because we really wanted to go to The Wave! So we were up early to make that 20 mile drive from our campground into Kanab. The second morning we watched as two different groups rushed into the room at 8:58. They had missed the warning speech, and scribbled all their information illegibly on their application just to get it in before 9:00. There were 54 applications that day, and everyone groaned when #54 and then #53 were drawn out of the hopper. Those last two late groups got four of the ten precious hiking spots.

Every day we had plans for an interesting activity after the lottery, but we still were focused on The Wave. On the third day, it was tough to roll out of bed on a frosty morning, but we did it. The parking lot was full (as usual), and there were 55 groups in the lottery. We ended up being #22, just like on the first morning. The first number drawn that third morning was for a group of four, so the spots were going fast! So we were absolutely elated when our number 22 was drawn! After three trips to the lottery, where your chance of getting drawn are something less than 10% each day--we won! We're going to The Wave! We spent the rest of the day smiling smugly, and doing research on how best to experience this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The details and way too many pictures are coming tomorrow!