SUGGESTIONS! For Coyote Buttes area

Hey everyone! I haven't posted on here in a while so HELLO to all you Bogleys. :mrgreen: I need your help and some suggestions. I have decided to head on down to the Coyote Buttes area on March 24-27th with my 7 year old for an adventure. After applying online several times over the last year for permits to hike The Wave (and being shot down), I have given up and am going to take my chances on a walk-in permit. I have to admit, I have some anxiety because I know if I don't obtain a walk-in permit, I will be bummed but I do understand the popularity of this special place. I am driving over 7 hours to get there so it would be cool if this went smoother than I feel it could be. I am going to try for both Friday and Saturday. So here are my questions:

1. If I get shot down on a walk-in for The Wave, what other hike should I do that is nearby that is easy to access? Meaning, no chances of getting stuck on a difficult road, in the sand. I do have an offroad Xterra but I am NOT a skilled 4x4 driver.

2. And what campground is close enough to the ranger station to make it easy to get there first thing in the morning? Everything seems pretty spread out.

The information on this area seems to be very vague online and it's hard to decipher what info is available. I am usually pretty capable of planning out my adventures without help, but this one is difficult for me for some reason.

Thanks! Your adventure challenged mommy.:wink:

There is a campground near the Wave but it is small - first come use.

There is a lot out there you can do. I like the Wahweap hoodoos and March is a good time to do it, while its cool out.

Check out the others on this page that are nearby. Camping info is in the middle column.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/coyote-buttes.htm

Thanks lady!!! Appreciate it. :2thumbs:

Anytime. :2thumbs:

I was down there two weeks ago, The state line campground looked brand new and had more spots then I had read about online... guessing it was recently refurbished. We camped 1 miles south from the campground in a primitive spot right off the road (the trail head for the notch route into the wave). But like you said this is pretty far from the rangers station.

The weather turned to complete shit while we were down there but lucky we had a plan B (softer hikes close to pavement) and plan C (sit in a hotel and bitch about the wind, sand, and flat light)... I guess I should start working on my trip report.

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Originally Posted by Summit

sit in a hotel and bitch about the wind, sand, and flat light

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:lol8:

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Originally Posted by Summit

I was down there two weeks ago, The state line campground looked brand new and had more spots then I had read about online... guessing it was recently refurbished.

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Curious, was it full to capacity? Is that why you camped a mile down the road? What day of the week did you go? Bummer about the weather! Darn. :nod:

Just a quick 1/2 day hike into wirepass narrows is pretty fun and your 7 year old would love it!!! Same trailhead as Wave... There is one decent chockstone pile up but typically there are a bunch of rocks piled together in a staircase type scheme.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/buckskin-gulch.htm
http://www.americansouthwest.net/slo...ss/canyon.html

(disclaimer: not sure on mud/ice/water levels at the end of march just depends on the weather between now and then i guess! )

Believe there is a campground right at the ranger station. White House? Primitive camp spots can be found on side tracks off of House Rock Valley Road.

Easy hiking can be found across 89 from the station which will take you to views of rimrock hoodoos. A few miles further west on 89 past the ranger station and HRVR will be a road to the right that will take you to the townsite of Pahweah as well as the Paria movie set. Might be worth an hour or so of exploring. Camping should be available there as well.

The hike into the wirepass narrows could definitely be a blast. Matt mentions mud in Wirepass, but hey what 7 yr old wouldn't mind tromping thru that.

Taking a ride out on the road that passes thru Long Canyon could be a bit of a thrill. After a few miles you'll arrive at a trailhead for Cobra Arch and/or the hike down to a middle view/entrance of Buckskin. Last mile to the trailhead could, however, be very sandy in spots.

A couple more if you want to leave the Paria Vermilion cliffs N.M. and enter the grand staircase are Hackberry Narrows and Yellow Rock off Cottonwood Canyon road GSENM.

link 1
link 2

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Originally Posted by abirken

Curious, was it full to capacity? Is that why you camped a mile down the road? What day of the week did you go? Bummer about the weather! Darn. :nod:

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The campground was empty, in fact we did not see anyone else camping along the house rock road. The sites in CG were all pretty small and we did not feel like paying for two of when there was perfectly good camping just down the road.
The Narrows in wire pass are pretty amazing and buckskin was a muddy mess. I think we went from the TH to buckskin and back in under 3 hours with lots of stops for photos.

Just posted a TR on my site ... bogley version should be up tomorrow. http://summit42.com/wp/coyote-buttes-2-2011

Man! You guys are so AWESOME! I really appreciate all the info..........going to look at your TR now Summit. You have made me feel better about going into the unknown. :haha::lol8:

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Originally Posted by Summit

http://summit42.com/wp/coyote-buttes-2-2011

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Awesome TR!!! So I really like how you listed out your timing of arrival, getting walk in permits, setting up camp and still having time to go see part of Buck Skin G the night before. I may attempt that same "itinerary" and possibly try for a walk in permit the night before. I just have to plan out :2thumbs:my drive time, etc.......

Summit - nice trip report and great pictures. Glad you made it out of HRVR in time before the mud and snow mess!

I hope you get permits, it was a great hike for us in January, and I can't wait to get back there and see more of the area! It'll be a wonderful adventure for you and your little one!

WE managed to score wave tickets on our second day april 5th three years ago... They will physically lock the door at 9 am when the draw takes place.

Coyote buttes South.. pretty Swirls and butes... maybe not quite as nice as the wave but still nice to look at and fun to play on. No lottery but there is a daily quota. Get the permit as soon as the draw for the wave is over ( and you didn't win ) for the following day... a lot of people know about the south butes and if you wait until the day off you might be out of luck. I would probably go to the ranger station as soon as you arrive in the evening and see if they have tickets for the following day, then line up for the wave draw in the morning and head over to the south buttes after....and with luck you have wave tickets for the next day in your pocket ... we did the Paw Holes only bc the rest of the road appears too sandy. I drive a pathfinder and would have easily made it to the Paw Holes Parking, but my girlfriends car only made it up 1/2way before the rougher sections ( at the big bend on zion map below ) .....no big deal... we walked it in under 1 hr having gained most of the elevation by car. We got detailed GPS waypoints with our permit...which were helpful


my pictures :http://www.flickr.com/photos/anja1/3...7619447267999/

http://www.zionnational-park.com/coyote-butte.htm for more pics and details


Yellow Rock----also a fun scramble to an amazingly colored mountain... definately a kid big or small would have fun playing on.

Toadstools... a wee bit down the road from the ranger station and 1.5 miles in from the road.... a quick stroll to some fun toadstools.

WE saw people camp down by he Pariah Movie Set as well

LOFTY- GREAT INFO!!!!! Thanks so so so much......

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Originally Posted by mattandersao

Just a quick 1/2 day hike into wirepass narrows is pretty fun and your 7 year old would love it!!! Same trailhead as Wave... There is one decent chockstone pile up but typically there are a bunch of rocks piled together in a staircase type scheme.

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Definitely hike wire pass! I was just down there two weeks ago and we hiked it! If I remember right there was two chokestones you had to drop off of (about 4-5'), but both had a pile of rocks at the bottom to help. The buckskin was flowing so we didn't go up or down the buckskin from the confluence.

We had permits to CBS and was able to drive to paw hole with only two-wheel drive... We were in a 4x4 truck, but the 4-wheel drive had gone out.... Luckily we made it. You can read my friends TR all about it here: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...ghlight=coyote

Have fun!

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Originally Posted by homerj

Definitely hike wire pass! I was just down there two weeks ago and we hiked it! If I remember right there was two chokestones you had to drop off of (about 4-5'), but both had a pile of rocks at the bottom to help. The buckskin was flowing so we didn't go up or down the buckskin from the confluence.

We had permits to CBS and was able to drive to paw hole with only two-wheel drive... We were in a 4x4 truck, but the 4-wheel drive had gone out.... Luckily we made it. You can read my friends TR all about it here: http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...ghlight=coyote

Have fun!

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So the chances of Buckskin still flowing could be a potential then? :cry1: :eek2: I guess all we can do is get down there and see what conditions are like. My fear is going all that way (8 hours) to not be able to hike CBN or Buckskin. I do know there is so much more to see but these would be on my preference list since I'm not sure if I'd get back down this way anytime soon. So your camp site looks super awesome! I want to know where it's at.

Even though sometimes it can be a zoo, you really should see Antelope canyon, and my vote is for lower. This is still the off season, so visitor traffic should be somewhat low, especially if you go on a weekday. Upper has the famous light beams, which never really interested me, but lower has some beams as well, and is a much more interesting, and fun for the little one with the ladders. Plus you get to spend as much time as you want rather than just a quick 45 minute tour.

If you want to avoid the sand going into CBS, take the corral valley road approach. When you are at the paria ranger station, they can point that route out to you. It will bring you into the cottonwood cove area which is much more interesting than paw hole. If the sand is fairly well compacted, you could head to white pocket. But that drive can be a little nerve racking even for me sometimes. Wahweap hoodoos are great this time of year with side lighting at sunrise and that is usually an easy drive to within 1 mile of them from the west, and a great place to camp. Of course everyone has already mentioned wire pass and buckskin. You could also head out to Stud horse point. A great place to camp for a beautiful sunrise. Horseshoe bend is also an easy and worthwhile side trip. The whitehouse campground will be your closest established camping place, but you can pretty much camp anywhere on BLM land.