Exclusive trail ‘The Wave’ on fragile rock at Arizona-Utah border opens to more hikers
The number of hikers at an iconic but fragile rock formation near the Utah-Arizona border will soon triple, the Bureau of Land Management said.
The “world-famous” hike known as “The Wave” sits in the Paria Canyon–Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness. It’s a 6.3-mile trail, and hikers have to enter a permit lottery to get permission to explore the area, according to AllTrails.
“Under the new decision, the number of hiking permits issued for the Wave will increase from 20 to 64 people and/or 16 groups per day, whichever comes first,” the Bureau of Land Management said in a news release. “The BLM could implement further increases or decreases in the future based on monitoring of resources and social conditions.”
The plan goes into effect Feb. 1, according to the Associated Press. Officials could continue to increase the number of daily visitors up to 96, according to the St. George Spectrum & Daily News.
More than 200,000 people applied for hiking permits in 2018, according to Travel and Leisure. Only 3.6% of the applicants were permitted to visit the trail.
“The stunning beauty of the Wave is part of every American’s public lands heritage, and we’re honored to protect and manage it for generations to come,” Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor said in the news release. “This effort provides for additional safety for visitors, access to our nation’s veterans, and ensures that in times like the COVID-19 pandemic, the American people have expanded access to recreational opportunities on their public lands.”
Some conservationists are concerned that the additional foot traffic will damage the sandstone landscape.
“It is going to damage the unique geology there,” Taylor McKinnon, a senior campaigner with the the Center for Biological Diversity, told AP. “There are going to be bigger crowds. It is going to be harder to get a picture without somebody else in it.”
The Wave is “less than half the size of a football field,” the Bureau of Land Management said. It sits in the hot, dry desert about 0.4 miles south of the Utah-Arizona border, according to AllTrails.
There are two troughs of The Wave, one that is 62 feet wide and 118 feet long and another that is 7 feet wide and 52 feet long, according to Treehugger. They were formed by water erosion, then wind created the sandstone walls, Treehugger reported.
It is a “small part of the 112,500-acre Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, but has some of the most visually striking geologic sandstone formations in the world, including The Wave,” according to the Bureau of Land Management.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Exclusive trail ‘The Wave’ on fragile rock at Arizona-Utah border opens to more hikers."