01.-06.05.2007: Coyote Buttes - Fredonia - White House Canyon We went to the ranger station first thing and put our names down for a permit for the Wave. Only ten permits are given out each day at the ranger station but there are another ten permits that can be requested up to six months in advance over the internet. The last time we were here, there were 11 people in the lottery for the 10 permits and our name got pulled out first. Now, three years later, we were lucky to be among only 22 people. At the weekends there are over 50 people trying to get permits. Edi and Jochen were here only a few weeks ago and tried five times to get a permit and never managed it! Instead of putting names in the hat, they now have a proper lottery type system, with numbered balls that are put into a circular device with a chute that only allows one ball at a time to come out. Our ball was picked out second! So on the first try we got our permit, along with 4 other Germans, 2 French and 2 Americans. Europe won on that day and there were a number of disgruntled people. One ranger thought that all the Germans knew each other and had deliberately put their names down separately to get a better chance of getting permits. But that wasn't the case! We were amazed to get our permits and asked about other walks in the area. (The Wave permits are always valid for the following day.) We found out that there was another "Wave" formation in the South Buttes area - the real Wave is in the North Buttes. And there was a permit available for today, so we paid another $5 each for a South Buttes permit and set off down the gravel road to get there. (The Wave permit is also $5 per person.) It is 16 miles down Houserock Road to get to Paw Hole where we turned off to get to the South Buttes area. The next 2.5 miles are along a sandy road and we were told that we would be able to drive it in our motor home. But right at the beginning, there was a huge, bumpy dip in the road, on a steep slope. We got out to take a closer look but decided it would be impossible for Winnie. So we parked at the side of the track, near an area that looked like a watering hole for cows. We walked along the sand road and met a man who told us where to go to find the other Wave. And we managed to find it!! This Wave isn't as spectacular as the one in the North but the whole area in the South is well worth exploring. There are plenty of beautiful formations to look at and it is great fun exploring an area that you have never been to before. We trudged up a steep sandy hill onto a plateau and met a professional photographer from Germany (got to Achim Fischers website) who doesn't use digital cameras. He was using large photo plates, approx 16x18 inches - each plate only takes one photo. It looked like the old fashioned system where the camera person would have to get under a black cloth to take the photo! We ended up chatting for nearly two hours! It was getting late and the clouds had rolled in, so we picked up our pace to get to the next area, where we found "shark tooth" and other wonderful formations. (I can't describe them, so just look at the photos!!!) On the way back, we got a bit lost but found some other fascinating rocks that Kirsten was delighted to take photos of. We managed to get back on track and then raced down the sandy track to get back to Winnie before it got dark. When we got back, Winnie had lots of dirty smudge marks all over the bonnet and front windows. Some of them looked like perfect nose prints from cows!!! Winnie had obviously been quite an attraction to the local population whilst we were away! We got to the campground at 7-30pm and all four spaces were taken, so we parked up at the trailhead for the night. (The campground is free). The next day we decided to try to get to the Wave from a different way called The Notch. We had heard about this route when we were here 3 years ago but when we asked the rangers about it yesterday, they just said it was too difficult to describe it! We had been given colour photos detailing the normal route in and out - last time we had to take photos of the ranger station photos on the digital camera so we could look at them on our way. But this time we wanted to go a different way to the Wave. We parked Winnie in one of the campground spots that had been vacated early that morning and then set off on foot along the gravel road. We had a very basic map and only roughly knew what to head for, so this was going to be a real adventure - Into the Unknown! We didn't really know if we had found the right area off the road, to climb up onto a plateau until we got to the top. The Notch is a pass through the mountains across the other side of the plateau. But there were two, one slightly to the north and one slightly to the south! We were supposed to go straight across the plateau. But we also knew that there was a boulder with some petroglyphs on it. We spotted the boulder directly ahead, across the plateau and then we knew that the Notch was the one to the north. There was a good trail up into the Notch but after a couple of miles it disappeared and we had to just pick our way uphill and climb over rocks and boulders to get over the saddle. That was steep but not too difficult. Finding our way down the other side was far more complicated. We should have kept to our left and stayed high up to traverse down into the valley, but we didn't know that at the time!! So we had several false starts, where we would come down to sheer drops and had no choice but to climb back up and try again further to the right. We had to back track 3 times before we eventually found a way down which was a very steep sand bank where Helen went arse over teakettle and managed to cut her elbow. But what we saw when we got down was well worth all the effort! Spectacular formations, different types of waves and all sorts of wonderful sights. The Notch approach is a must. Then at the end, there was the Wave. The photos say more than I could ever describe. It had taken us 3.5 hours to get to the Wave and we only stayed there about 20 minutes because we have seen it before. The trail back to the campground was a hard slog through sand and over rocks and we did a total of about 9 miles. Back at Winnie, we sat in the shade and emptied our boots full of sand. We even had sand in our hair. But our solar shower saved the day! Our next walk was Buckskin Gulch. Last time we managed to do about the first 5 to 6 miles. So this time we wanted to get even further. We had heard at the ranger station that there was a waist-deep pool on the trail, but we were hoping that, by now, the water was no longer that deep so that we would be able to get through. After 2 miles we found the first pool which had stepping stones across it. The second also had stepping stones but were a lot more awkward to get across. For the third one we had to take our boots off. Helen had her sandals with her but Kirsten had to go through bare foot. And the water was Freezing!!!! We dried our feet, put our boots back on and carried on. Just around the corner there was another pool...... The seventh pool turned out to be still waist deep, and because our feet were now turning blue, and it had taken us over an hour to get through the pools so far, we decided we weren't going to get very far today! We didn't have any change of clothing with us and had no desire to go waist deep in freezing water, so we turned around and went back. We were quite disappointed but we found out that the water in the pools had been caused by flooding on the plains above the canyon walls and the water had run off into the canyon. It had been like that now for over two months, so the water was obviously not draining off anywhere. We warmed up our feet in the sun on the way back and ended up only doing 5 miles. We drove back to the ranger station to check out the forecast. It was supposedly going to rain or snow and wouldn't get better until Tuesday. We drove to Fredonia and went to a campground. Unfortunately, the campground had changed owners and was no longer part of the Passport America system where we get 50% off. So we only stayed for one night and then went back to a free camping area near the ranger station and near the Whitehouse trailhead.