The Wave: Arizona’s Lottery-Only Sandstone

On the slopes of Coyote Buttes, just south of the Utah border, a hollow of sandstone curves and ripples in bands of red, orange, cream and gold. Hikers call it the Wave. The rock is Navajo Sandstone, formed from huge sand dunes that drifted across the region during the Jurassic period. As layer after layer of sand piled up, the dunes left sloping lines that show today as the Wave’s stripes. Runoff first cut troughs along cracks in the stone. Over time the drainage shrank, and the wind took over, scouring the softer layers faster than the harder ones. That’s what produces the fine ribs and fins that make the Wave look like it’s moving. For years almost no one knew it existed. Then it appeared in German nature documentaries in the 1990s and 2000s, and European travelers began seeking it out. As more people came, the ridges, some only fractions of an inch thick, began to wear away. To protect it, the Bureau of Land Management limits visitors to 64 a day, chosen by lottery. Most spots go through an advance lottery held four months out. The rest go through a daily lottery that you can only enter if you’re physically near the area. Each year, far more people apply than win. Those who do get a permit face a hike of about three miles each way across open desert with no marked trail.