2026 Southwest Meander - Days 4, 5, And 6

The next part of our road trip took us to a beautiful place picked out by the Wife.  Our original hope was to get permits to go see the Wave, a rock formation in the North Coyote Butte.  Permits are granted by lottery and are limited to a very small number each day.    We didn't get permits the 'normal' way but the company we went through would check to see if there were any cancellations.  Unfortunately there were none.  This is to be expected since we had heard stories of people trying for permits for five or even ten years unsuccessfully.  The company we worked through did offer us other hikes similar to the wave in the area so it wasn't a loss.  The company package we paid for included lodging in Kanab, UT just north of the area where we would be hiking, two guided hikes, and a dinner in a nice restaurant in our hotel.

I did not do my homework leaving all the planning to the Wife.  Because of this I arrived in Kanab without my Tilley hat, which I always wear when I hike, or my GPS.  So I have no distances for the hikes we did.  Still kicking myself a little bit.

Day 4: Getting to Kanab, UT

We left Oracle fairly early and drove the seven to eight hours to Kanab, UT.  Our hotel was nice with a fireplace in our room.  We went out looking for dinner and got a shock at how expensive the food was.  Having said that, restaurant choices were limited in Kanab and the food was delicious.

Day 5: South Coyote Butte

Undulating layers of petrified sand.

While we didn't get a permit to the Wave, we did manage to get a permit, with the help of the company, to South Coyote Butte.  South Coyote Butte has formations similar to the Wave and, according to our guides, has a more diverse landscape.

We had two guides, one an experienced guide, the other a trainee though he also was experienced with desert hiking.  The drive to the trailhead was two and a half hours with a stop along the way to use the facilities and chocolate chip cookies.

A fossil footprint.
The layers under the fossil have weathered away showing the underside of the dinosaur fossil print.

The hike was three to four hours long with a lunch break.  We saw beautiful wavy rock formations and fossils.  The views along the hike were spectacular.  There was something new to see around each corner.

The varied landscape of the South Coyote Butte.

After returning to the hotel we ate our included meal.  We had $150 worth of coupons from the company and we used most of it.  I ended up ordering the bone-in prime rib which turned out to be two and a half pounds (1.13 kg) of meat.  I ate maybe a third in the restaurant.  Another third would be eaten in our room on our last day in Kanab.

Day 6: White Pocket

The white formations from White Pocket.

Our second hike was in a place called White Pocket.  We had a single guide this time and we were joined by a man, his son, and the father's partner.

Not everything at White Pocket is white but they are all amazing.

We had the same two and a half hour drive to the trailhead.  The scenery and formations here were quite different from those of South Coyote Butte.  Over the next three to four hours we explored the variety of white and multicolored formations in the area.  So close to where we were the day before but with such different formations and colors.

Next ... Robots and Witches.

Photographs can be found in my 2026 Southwest Meander Google Photos album.