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Tag: echo cliffs

Paria Canyon: White House to Lees FerryParia Canyon: White House to Lees Ferry

Paria Canyon: White House to Lees Ferry

Canyons of the Paria | Tuesday – Sunday, March 18-23, 2025

Backpacking along the Paria River through the tight narrows and massive gorge of the lower Paria Canyon across the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument has been on my to-do list for well over a decade now, and even though I’ve tried to schedule this hike a number of times in the past it seems that something has always come up causing a change of plans- most notably on our last attempt about two years ago when cold temperatures, flash flooding and multiple deaths in the canyon made us change our minds about the hike at the very last minute. This year I wanted to take another gamble on the weather in middle-to-late March and grabbed a permit back on December 1st while Diane and I were driving home from a long weekend in the Bears Ears for Thanksgiving and hoped that I would be able to use it this time.

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Easter Weekend Around the Paria PlateauEaster Weekend Around the Paria Plateau

Easter Weekend Around the Paria Plateau

Easter Weekend | Saturday & Sunday, March 26-27, 2016

After spending Friday wandering around Coyote Buttes North, I returned to my camp near the Utah-Arizona state line in Coyote Valley to spend another night there. I slept in a little later on Saturday morning and didn’t crawl out of my tent until the sun came up. I would be spending the rest of the weekend circumnavigating the Paria Plateau and exploring some new areas along the way. After packing up camp, I returned north to the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead and hiked down the wash to explore the edge of the West Clark Bench (The Dive). Diane and I had explored part of this area on a hike from Wire Pass at the end of 2014 and I wanted to check out some more of the area this morning.

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The Wave WeekendThe Wave Weekend

The Wave Weekend

Friday-Sunday, November 4-6, 2011

The Wave, located just south of the Utah-Arizona state line in the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, is one of those places that every photographer and hiker wants to visit. It’s hard to blame them because it is such a unique and amazing area. Unfortunately, because of it’s popularity, the BLM has a permit system in place that allows only twenty people per day the chance to experience this remarkable area. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you might know that I am averse towards any kind of permit when I go out exploring, so in the past I have usually avoided those places. This year I have made an effort to finally visit some of those places that require a permit, including The Maze and the White Rim. A few months ago I decided that I would try to get a permit so that I could hopefully visit The Wave this year, too. Since there are only 20 permits per day, it can be difficult to obtain one. For anyone not familiar with the Coyote Buttes North permit system, ten of the permits for each day are awarded in a lottery three months in advance and the other ten are distributed in person the day before. I guess I was pretty lucky since I managed to snag two permits in advance on my first try. Once I had my permits, Amanda and I decided to make a long three day weekend out of the trip.

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