Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Helmut and Agnes didn't turn up so we continued on our tour and drove to Little Finland. This involved a long stretch of bad road that took us over 2 hours to get
through and we parked up just before dark.
The next day we walked 5 miles along a track and wash and then cut across to the rock formations. It is not a very large area and not very well known seeing as it is
in the middle of nowhere. Four wheel drive would be better which is why we parked up Winnie and walked.
We explored to area and then Helen sat and waited whilst Kirsten played with her camera. We stayed for the sunset to see the glowing rocks and then we had to leave.
We walked back in the dark with our new torch, bought specially for this. The moon didn't come out until we had just about got back to Winnie and it was quite spooky
walking in the dark.
The next morning our propane ran out and the fridge was off but we were planning on leaving anyway. We drove to St. George in Utah and bought some new cushion covers
and pillows to improve our interior design! We also bought new hoses and various other things, including another hard drive. Quite a shopping spree!
Then we headed to Paria station, 120 miles away, to try our luck at getting another permit for the Wave.
We got to the station bright and early the next morning and put our names down for the lottery. Then Helmut and Agnes arrived! This would be the ninth time in a row
they were putting their names down and it was a record! That's why they never made it to Lake Mead because they kept trying.
There were normally about 40 to 50 people in the lottery trying to get one of the ten places and on the third try you are given three numbers. But even when there were
only 18 people trying to get permits, Helmut and Agnes' number still wasn't drawn. They had decided to give it one more go and we told them not to worry because we
always get a permit first time and we would give them ours!
Karl-Heinz and Brigitte also arrived. They are friends of Helmut and Agnes and came by to say hello when we were in the Okanagan Valley. They have never been to the
Wave and it was their first time in the lottery.
At 9 am there were 35 people and the draw was made. Our number was drawn out third! We had the permit! Then, lo and behold, Helmut and Agnes' number was pulled out
next!! Big shouts of Hurrah! They were quite famous at the station!
Anyway, we decided to give our permit to Karl-Heinz and Brigitte as we have already been three times so that they could go with Helmut and Agnes. We then went to get a
permit for the South Buttes because we wanted to try and get to the Cottonwood area at the far side where we had never been.
We drove down the very bumpy House rock Road which is in far worse condition since the last time we were there. Then we walked along Wire Pass and into Buckskin Gulch
which the others had never seen.
Last time we did the first part of this walk and encountered some fairly big drops that were deep but manageable for us and then we got stopped by deep pools that
would have been above waist height for us.
This time we were shocked at how deep the drops had become - at least 4 feet deeper and there was even a ladder at one of them. The rain and water has obviously been
considerable over the last two years and gouged out a great deal of the sand and rock.
We did about 5 miles and got quite a way into the Gulch but then it was time to turn around and head back. We managed to get back up the deep drops but we probably
wouldn't have managed it on our own. We all needed helping hands.
We left the others parked at the car park where they were going to stay for the night and then go to the Wave the next day. We drove 8 miles further along House rock
Road to get to Lone Tree where we parked up.
We noticed two large rocks stuck between the dual tyres at the back and spent about an hour trying to hammer them out after jacking up the motor home. But we couldn't
get them out and it was already dark. So we decided to try to get back in the daylight tomorrow and try again. Failing that we could always risk driving back to Wire
Pass car park and getting Helmut to help us get one of the tyres off.
The next day we got up in the dark, had breakfast, packed our bags and headed off along the very sandy road via Paw Hole to Cottonwood Teepee car park which was 7.5 miles
away. The road was far too sandy for Winnie and we knew we would need 6 to 7 hours just to walk there and back. Then we would need at least 2 to 3 hours to explore the
area. It was going to be a long day.
It took us 3.5 hours to walk there and then we spent 2.5 hours doing approx 3 miles in the area. There were a lot of Waves and box formations and we had a great time
exploring. But we wished we had more time and decided we were just going to have to come back!
At 2pm we set off back to the road and noticed an empty car parked on the car park. We hadn't seen a soul at the Buttes so we decided we would head off and maybe they
would be able to give us a lift if they were going in the same direction.
We'd only walked 10 minutes when we heard the car behind us and asked them if they were going our way. So we got a lift in the back of a pick up truck. What a ride!
It was unbelievably bumpy and we just about managed to get our fleeces out of our back packs to sit on to give us some padding.
But we ended up getting thrown around all over the place.
Bruises galore!!
Unfortunately they went the long way around and it took about an hour to get back to Winnie.
By that time we were also blue in the face as well as everywhere else because the wind was so cold and we were still in our shorts and T-shirts!!
But we made it back without having to trudge through the sand so it was worth it. They'd been at the lottery the day before and recognized us and were hoping to get a
permit the next day. So we gave them lots of tips for the area and thanked them for the ride.
Then we spent an hour jacking up Winnie and trying to get the stones out of the tyres. Still no success. So we gave up and decided to drive back to Wire Pass to get
help from Helmut.
Just as we drove off we saw Karl-Heinz and Brigitte coming down to us. They'd had a wonderful time at the Wave but when they got back to the car park at Wire Pass the
rangers were waiting for them.
There was some kind of huge problem about the permits and the rangers were having a real go at them, ranting and raving. But Karl-Heinz and Brigitte don't speak that
much English and were struggling to understand what was happening. They were told to leave and not come back.
They arranged with Helmut and Agnes to meet them in Page the following day and came down to us to let us know that we might be in trouble with the rangers as well. It
was all very confusing because we were getting a story from two people who didn't understand what was happening!
Well we had the problem with the back tyres to solve first. So Karl-Heinz helped us jack up Winnie again and then got the outside tyre off. We removed the two stones
but then disaster struck. When we put the tyre back on we ripped off the valve on the inside tyre and stood there helpless as we heard the loud burst of air followed
by hissing as the inside tyre deflated within seconds!
Flat tyre! And no valve so there was no way we could get any air in until we got a new valve. Oh boy!
Well there was nothing for it. We knew we would never make it back along the really bad 16 mile stretch of House rock road with only 3 tyres on the back. The chances
that we would destroy the other tyre were high. Our only solution was to drive the 11 miles along the other side of House Rock Road, which we knew was flat but
washboard and then get to Page which would be the nearest place to get our tyre repaired.
It was already dark when we were getting the outer tyre off so we drove along the washboard and it took us one hour to drive 10 miles. Then we saw a fenced off car
park with a toilet and decided we'd have to stay there for the night and continue slowly the next day and hope we could make it to Page without having to call out a
tow truck!
