Spring 2024 Southwestern Swing, 4.01.24 - 5.06.24, Part 16, South Coyote Buttes

The Southwestern Swing that began on April first had now moved into the month of May. We had seen so many incredible things but we still had one more excursion on our itinerary before it was time to make our way home. It may sound cliche to say we saved the best for last but in this case it was certainly an accurate statement. This final report will be a long one, but it helps put everything into context if I explain the background before sharing the experience.

In the fall of 2022 we made our first foray into the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument with our overnight visit to White Pocket. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen and I promised myself (and Bridgit) right then that we would be back to further explore what may possibly be my favorite National Monument in the entire country. On this current trip we made good on that promise. The day exploring Thousand Pockets, our hike into Buckskin Gulch, the amazing day Mike and and had in Edmaier’s Secret were all within the boundaries of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. Even though I was unsuccessful in my attempt to win a permit to the Wave, which is also in the Vermilion Cliffs, I had managed to get a permit to visit an area that some would say is even more spectacular than the Wave.

Within the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is a large area called Coyote Buttes. Located in the northwestern portion of the monument, Coyote Buttes is divided into a northern section and a southern section. North Coyote Buttes is the home of the Wave, while Edmaier’s Secret and Buckskin Gulch are just outside the boundary yet still within the Vermilion Cliffs. South Coyote Buttes has two main areas, one is called Paw Hole and the other being Cottonwood Cove.

To visit either section of Coyote Buttes requires a permit which is done through either an advanced lottery or a daily lottery. The Wave is so incredibly popular that the odds of securing a permit are somewhere around 3% on any given day. South Coyote Buttes is much less visited, mainly due to the need for a 4WD high clearance vehicle to access the trailhead.

Only twenty permits per day are issued for South Coyote Buttes. Ten are through the advanced lottery and the other ten through a daily lottery. I had put in for a permit three months ahead when the lottery opened for May. I nearly jumped out of my seat with joy when I was notified that Bridgit and I were awarded a permit for May 2nd.

I knew this would be a very special place to see and I wanted to know as much about the area as possible to get the most out of my visit. Gary had been there before and was very helpful. I also searched the internet and YouTube and got a lot more info from there. I also found several people on Facebook that had posted about their visits. In particular, a big thanks goes out to Hinar for taking the time to not only talk with me on the phone but also send me a wealth of information. I also found a photo book about South Coyote Buttes called Beyond the Sands by Wes Greenhalgh that turned out to be extremely helpful. In his book he divided up South Coyote Buttes into various sectors and then mapped out each sector with photos and details on some of the main features in each. This made it much easier for me to plot a course to follow when we arrived.

Knowing that the area would be too large to possibly see in one day, I wanted to spend every minute I could in South Coyote Buttes during the one day I had a permit for. In my research I had discovered that a possible place to camp was located just outside the permit boundary only a hundred yards or so from the trailhead to Cottonwood Cove. If Bridgit and I packed camping gear in the Jeep, we could stay overnight the night before our permit date and this would allow us to get a very early start. We would spend all day in Cottonwood Cove and then drive to Paw Hole for the sunset hours before going back to the Navibahn. We ended up scrapping the Paw Hole idea for two reasons. People who had been to the Cottonwood Cove area said it was so large that we should just devote all our time there. Second, the road leading to Paw Hole from Cottonwood Cove was notorious for extremely deep sand and everyone I talked to said to avoid that stretch of road. There is another easier way to access Paw Hole directly from House Rock Valley Road so we will just have to go there next time!

During our drive back to Kanab from Edmaier’s Secret, Mike and I stopped into the BLM office to see if they had any current information on South Coyote Buttes. So far, Mike had been really sitting on the fence about whether or not to apply for a daily permit to go with us. The Jeep didn’t have room for the three of us with gear so he would have to drive his truck in. He had almost gotten stuck in the deep sand when he went to White Pocket and was very hesitant about driving into Cottonwood Cove. For weeks I had been telling him that the road reportedly wasn’t as bad as the road into White Pocket and that a visit to Cottonwood Cove would change his life so he finally bit the bullet and applied for a daily permit. Again, they issue ten daily permits per day but fate was on his side and he texted me all excited that he had been granted one. Bridgit and I were thrilled that he would be joining us. I knew that Bridgit wasn’t going to be able to hike as far and as long as I wanted to and now I would have a partner to hike with after Bridgit was done for the day.

So now the plan was set. Around 9AM on May first, with both vehicles we set off down 89A through Fredonia and Jacob Lake to the southern end of House Rock Valley Road. Our turnoff was only nine miles up this road so by taking the highway down and coming up from the south end we avoided the twenty-three miles of washboarded road if we had come down from the north end past Upper Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass. We turned off of House Rock Valley Road on the same road we had taken to White Pocket. The first part of this road while bumpy has no deep sand. Before reaching the deep sand part, we turned north on a different road and made our way to a spot called Poverty Flat. Had we taken a left at this junction we would have been on the really rough road to Paw Hole. We continued north and sure enough, just before the end of the road we spotted one place where there was a small pull-through that looked like the only place to possibly camp along the entire road from Poverty Flat to Cottonwood Cove. Before setting up a camp there, we wanted to see if there was room to camp by the trailhead. Only a tenth of a mile further we came to the end of the road and the Cottonwood Cove trailhead. It was a tiny parking area and there were four vehicles parked which was about all there was room for. It was clear the dispersed camp spot was our better option so without even stopping I attempted to turn around to go back to the camp we had spotted. As I tried to turn in the tight parking area, I drove right into a section of really deep sand and came very close to getting stuck. I managed to work my way out of it but it was a close call and we decided that our camp spot was so close to the trailhead there would be no need to drive there once we were situated.

Back at the camp spot, it turned out to be perfect for us. The little pull-through right next to the road was just big enough for Mike to find a level spot for his truck and I had plenty of room to park the Jeep. Mike has a pop-up camper and we found a nice level spot for our tent. We were a bit worried about some strong forecasted wind but the tent stakes found good solid dirt under a soft layer of sand so we didn’t need any rocks to weigh down the stakes. We were very pleased with our journey in. We never had to deal with any deep sand that compared to what the road into White Pocket had, there was no need to air down the tires and 4H was plenty to get into Cottonwood Cove.

Our campsite was great. It was nestled in an area of junipers. We could see the spires of Cottonwood Cove and couldn’t wait to get in there and have a closer look. Looking east from our camp we could see White Pocket off in the distance. A few cows wandered around but that was about all the wildlife we saw.

**Part of Cottonwood Cove from our campsite**

Everything west of the road was considered within the boundary of South Coyote Buttes so we weren’t allowed to go in that direction until the following morning. However, just to the east of the trailhead was another area of rock called The Chess Queen’s Garden. Because this was outside the boundary of South Coyote Buttes, I wanted to explore this area during the sunset hours. We had arrived in Cottonwood Cove around noon and had set up shop and sat around until about three and I just couldn’t wait any longer. The three of us walked down the road to the Cottonwood Cove trailhead which took three minutes. From there we could see the Chess Queen’s Garden so we just made our way across the desert in that direction. We did find a sandy trail but with no official trails it was really just a boot beaten track. It only took about ten minutes to get to the Chess Queen’s Garden which was a large area of convoluted rock that looked really inviting to crawl around on. From my research I knew roughly where we wanted to go so we worked our way around the northern side of the rocks in search of the Chess Queen herself. And sure enough, coming around the rocks sort of tucked into the back end was a phenomenal rock pillar that did indeed look a lot like a queen from a chess set. She stood about twenty-five feet tall and was backed by a wall of beautiful red rock.

**Approaching the Chess Queen’s Garden**

We spent the next hour just exploring the nooks and crannies of the Chess Queen’s Garden. It was a relatively smaller area compared to the rest of Cottonwood Cove but it packed a lot of punch. We were all really pleasantly surprised. Our minds were thinking that the next day would be where we would see all the cool stuff and we were just loving how amazing the Chess Queen’s Garden turned out to be. It was almost like a bonus thrown in for our benefit.

As we wandered around we climbed a little higher to the uppermost section of the Chess Queen’s Garden and from that vantage point we could look to the north and see the North Tepees, the back side of where the Wave is and we even saw the vantage point at the end of the West Clark Bench where Mike and I had been the previous day. So cool!

**This feature is called “Pile of Pancakes”**

**Looking north to the West Clark Bench**

By the time we got back to the trailhead I think all the vehicles had left and we hadn’t seen anyone coming or going. We were the only ones in the area that camped overnight. I got up to pee in the middle of the night and the stars were insane! We were really far from any light pollution and the night sky with all the stars and the Milky Way were a truly sight to behold.

Being so close to the Arizona/Utah state line, our phones couldn’t decide what time zone they were in. Utah time is an hour later since Arizona doesn’t recognize daylight savings, but our phones actually bounced back and forth multiple times at our campsite. We set an alarm for 5:30AM but in the morning we relied on just looking how light it was to determine the actual time. It was right around freezing when we got up but as soon as the sun rose things warmed up nicely. We started our day right at six. The sun was just hitting the Cottonwood Cove Tepees as we walked down the road to the trailhead. According to the map I downloaded to Gaia, there was a main trail that went almost due west to the Cottonwood Cove Tepees. Another trail veered off from the main trail and headed south to an area called the Upper Terrace. Our battle plan was to make our way to the Upper Terrace, explore that area and then work our way north along a whole line of mind-bending stuff to the north end of Cottonwood Cove.

We weren’t exactly on any trail but we we knew where we wanted to be. Making our way up through some deep sandy hills we passed several cool rock formations on the way to the Upper Terrace.

Many of the rock formations have names, but since none are really official, I found some discrepancies between the different sources as to where certain things were and what they are called. The first rock pillar we came across is called the Postman according to one source but on Gaia the Postman was in a much different location. I suppose this next photo could look like a Postman with his cap on backwards.

**Our first rocks of the day. The Postman?**

The Upper Terrace was a bit higher than the rest of the area so once we arrived we had unbelievable views looking down the length of Cottonwood Cove. The early morning light was great and we were just blown away at the diversity of the rock both near and far.

**Bridgit and Mike in the Upper Terrace**

**Another epic adventure for two old friends. Photo courtesy of Bridgit.**

**Couldn’t wait to get to this section!**

From the Upper Terrace we descended on fun slickrock towards a jungle of tightly packed multi-colored pillars and mounds. We were like kids in a playground! Every turn revealed new bizarre rocks and surprises. Now we were in the Middle Terrace and we slowly continued in a northerly direction. We went through a section of rock with lots of linear lines called The Rock Stripes. Beyond this area was one of my favorite spots called The Wired Rocks. This was a slope of brain rock in multiple colors of yellow, purple and red rock that rose to two prominent domes.

**Mike descending from the Upper Terrace**

Just beyond the Wired Rocks, Bridgit was leading and all of a sudden she emitted an excited “Oh WOW”! She had stumbled upon the Control Tower, one of the cooler features of the day. While not incredibly tall, the Control Tower was quite unique in shape and form. We liked it so much I ran back, grabbed the Jeep and we did a little four-wheeling up the side of the Control Tower!

Just beyond the Control Tower we found the Witches Hat which is also sometimes called the Sorting Hat or the Seahorse.

Right next to the Witches Hat, we came to a cliff looking straight down into an absolutely beautiful sort of canyon comprised of swirling white, brown and red rock. We were at the end of the Middle Terrace and looking down on the Lower Terrace. The Lower Terrace had a feature known as the Southern Wave for a rounded depression with striped multi-colored rock. It is also supposed to have dinosaur prints in the vicinity.

The Lower Terrace was several hundred feet below us and we began looking for a way to get down there. Going all the way around sounded like a long and tedious trek and the cliffs were clearly not an option. Bridgit found a steep gully right by the Witches Hat that looked doable, although we couldn’t see if it would work all the way down to the Lower Terrace or not.

At this point we had been hiking for quite a ways and quite a while. If Bridgit descended down to the Lower Terrace we would have to climb back up and then still hike out so at this point she decided she was thoroughly satisfied with what she had seen and experienced. We all expected this and had a plan for how to handle it. Rather than point “thataway” and send Bridgit off to wander through the desert in search of our camp, Mike and I hiked with her through a gap near the Wired Rocks. We were now on the east, or front side of Cottonwood Cove. We could now see the Chess Queen’s Garden. We worked our way south along the front of the Cottonwood Tepees until we came to the main trail leading up from the trailhead. At this point we could see the trailhead and our camp and it was pretty much a straight shot down the main trail to get back. Bridgit was totally comfortable and confident with her ability to get back from here so she headed down the main trail and Mike and I worked our way back to the Witches Hat. We were glad we took Bridgit the way we did because we got to see parts of Cottonwood Cove we would have missed had we not gone that way.

**Making our way back to the Witches Hat**

**Looking back down the gap we climbed from the Cottonwood Tepees to the Witches Hat**

**Looking down to the Lower Terrace from near the Witches Hat**

**The Lower Terrace from near the Witches Hat**

Once back at the Witches Hat, Mike and I descended Bridgit’s Gap to the Lower Terrace. Rounding a corner, we then hiked up and through the Southern Wave. While nowhere near as cool as the photos I’ve seen of the Wave, it had similar characteristics such as a bowl-like curve and multi colored striped rock. As we made our way through this area I was on high alert for dino tracks and sure enough, a little way past the Southern Wave on the floor of the terrace was an area of reddish brown slickrock with several dinosaur prints all in a row. It was exciting to find dinosaur tracks that weren’t signed and behind some fence. Here we were in a very wild place and roaming around just like the dinosaurs did back in the Flintstones days.

**Real honest to goodness dinosaur tracks**

**Closeup of one of the dinosaur tracks**

South Coyote Buttes is a very large area and no matter how much advance research I did, I wasn’t sure how much of it we would be able to see in one day. I had hoped to make it to the point we were now at, but really didn’t expect to have the time or the energy to go any further. I was pleased to realize that we still had more time and energy so we formulated a new plan to work our way south along the west side of the area we had spent the morning hiking through and then find a way to make our way back to the trailhead.

Beyond the Southern Wave and Lower Terrace, we still had to descend quite a bit to get to the desert floor on the west side of Cottonwood Cove. A little traversing through some ledges eventually got us down to a wide wash far below the ledge where we had stood by the Witches Hat. The journey south along the wash was scenic but nothing quite like the amazing stuff up top. Bridgit definitely saw the coolest stuff and I felt she didn’t really miss out on anything she would have regretted not seeing.

Still, the hike south along the west side was interesting. A little way to the northwest we could see another section of Cottonwood Cove called the Nomads. These were a group of rock tepees. We opted not to hike over that far to explore them. Along the wash we did hike through a nice clump of dark chocolate mounds. Even further south we now could see an area of pinnacles all bunched together tucked deep into a box canyon. This was the area that is actually called Cottonwood Cove and for what the entire north end of South Coyote Buttes is named after. I would have liked to explore that area and it really did look like an interesting place to check out, but at this point in the day it was getting warm and my energy was beginning to subside. Whenever I get back to South Coyote Buttes, I plan on taking a more direct route straight to Cottonwood Cove in the early morning. Speaking of which, for you photographers out there, our route was a good one for light. The eastern (or what I call the front) of Cottonwood Cove is lit beautifully by the early morning sunlight. It would be easy to spend the entire first half of the day in and around this part of Cottonwood Cove. Hiking down the west side is better in the afternoon as the sun is now shining on the west side. It looks like the actual area called Cottonwood Cove would be better in the early morning since the box canyon might put it in shadow by late afternoon. The Chess Queen’s Garden is definitely a sunset spot which works out great if you are camping overnight like we did. But I stray.

By the time we hiked far enough south to be almost across from Cottonwood Cove, we found an area that looked like we could hike due east and get up, over and to the eastern side where the trailhead was. We ended up climbing about five hundred feet of elevation to reach the top of the ridge. I expected to be in the Upper Terrace at that point but once on the ridge we still had to cross a flat stretch of sage and cactus before reaching rock. Then we still had to climb a bit more before we finally crossed our original route. Now that the end was in site we took a break. As we began to head down the front side towards the trailhead we spotted a large patch of brain rock with some big rock mounds to our left so we made our way over to them. It turned out to be an area on my map known as Yellow Patch that we had missed early in the morning. It was a very cool area and from there we were right at the top of the side trail that led us back to the trailhead and our camp.

**The Chocolate Mounds in the west wash. The Nomads are in the background.**

**Looking up at the ridge we needed to cross**

**The actual area known as Cottonwood Cove**

**Making our way up to the ridge between the west side and east side**

I recorded our route on Gaia. It looks like we were doing this stoned at night with no headlamps, but it really does make sense. From the trailhead the lowest red line is our route to the Upper Terrace. Then a relatively straight shot heads north to a little ways past the Rock Stripes at the Witches Hat. The round circle is where we hiked back to the main trail with Bridgit and then made our way back to the Witches Hat. From there we descended to the Lower Terrace, shown as the farthest northern point of our route. The long, curved red line is our route south back along the west side. Finally, we climbed eastward, crossing our original line and then back to the trailhead.

When we got back to the trailhead there were several vehicles there but we had not seen anyone since arriving in Cottonwood Cove the previous day. I think the bulk of vehicles are guided tours that come in, take their clients up the trail to the Cottonwood Tepees and then get back. Thankfully, Bridgit was alive and safe when we got back to camp. Sweetheart that she is, she had already packed up our entire camp, even the tent and I didn’t have to do anything to be ready to leave. We followed each other back out and on the way back to Kanab we stopped at the Jacob Lake Inn for dinner. There we said our goodbyes with Mike and we were once again back down to just the two of us.

Our experience in Cottonwood Cove could not have gone any better. The weather was great, having Mike with us was a real joy and we had a day that would be hard to top. This stunning area has so much to see and I am so glad there are limits as to how many people can go in there on a given day. Having never seen another person the entire two days, we felt like we owned the place. The area is still in pristine condition. We never saw even one bit of toilet paper stuffed under a bush or a rock, there was zero evidence of graffiti and I just pray that as time goes on, people take care of this place because it is a real treasure.

Whew! That was a long report! Back at camp, we still had one more day to play in the Kanab area. We were wanting to take it easy for our final day so instead of hiking we planned to do a scenic drive up Johnson Canyon, turn onto Skutumpah Road up towards Kodachrome Basin and come back south via Cottonwood Canyon Road with a stop at Grosvenor Arch. That plan changed as soon as I checked the forecast. I knew that winds and rain were coming. If we had gone to Cottonwood Cove two days later we would have faced sixty-five mph winds and blowing sand along with severe thunderstorms. That wasn’t a concern since we were already out of there, but those same sixty-five mph winds were expected to hit eastern Nevada on Saturday along with thunderstorms and snow. That would be the day we would be driving north through Nevada and camping at a rest stop along the way. To try and stay ahead of the weather we decided we would leave on Friday instead. So early the next morning we packed up and headed for home. We were in no major hurry that day so we stopped a short way out of Kanab on 89 and hiked up to the Moqui Sand Caves. It was a short fun little hike with an easy rock scramble to get to the caves that overlooked the highway. These were man-made caves created as a sand mine. There were plenty of people there and it felt really touristy compared to where we had just been but it was a fun little side excursion.

We drove up 89 and then took 14 to Cedar City. Along the way we climbed up to 9,911’. It was still winter up there with snow on both sides of the road and Navajo Lake was still frozen. Driving west from Cedar City we crossed into Nevada and got on 93 right by Cathedral Gorge. About twenty miles north of Ely we stopped at the Schellbourne Rest Area and stayed there for free overnight. I love Nevada 93. It is a long straight two lane highway with very little traffic. The scenery is classic old west, mountains rising on either side of a wide flat sageland. Schellbourne was part of the original Pony Express route and there are very interesting signs there that tell you all about how it began and operated. I was amazed that the Pony Express riders and horses (in tandem) could get mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Carson City, Nevada in ten days! That’s pretty remarkable.

**Metal sculpture at Schellbourne Rest Area**

The next morning we made it to our next planned camp at the Oregon Trail Rest Area near Ontario, Oregon. It looked crowded and didn’t appeal to us at all so we continued and ended up spending the night back at the A Frame in Baker City where this trip began. We treated ourselves to a nice meal in town to celebrate our adventure. The next day, May 5th, the weather caught up to us. Between La Grande and Pendleton where you climb up into the Blue Mountains we drove right up into a snowstorm. The snow subsided in Pendleton, but then we got hit with forty-five mph crosswinds all the way to Hermiston on the Columbia. Things mellowed out there but the winds picked up again past Yakima all the way to Cle Elum. So it was was a rough drive that last day but we made it home with no problems.

I don’t think we’ve ever packed so much into one trip. It was just one thing after another but we enjoyed every minute of it. Bridgit and I both love adventure travel and we are already plotting where we might go next. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed following along with this trip. I’d love to hear from you on your thoughts. Please leave comments on the website or simply email me at jbnewmark@gmail.com with what your favorite parts were or any suggestions that might improve the reader’s experience. Above all, get out there and make your own adventures! It’s a beautiful world we live in!

Spring 2024 Southwestern Swing, 4.01.24 - 5.06.24, Part 16, South Coyote Buttes

Spring 2024 Southwestern Swing, 4.01.24 - 5.06.24, Part 15, Edmaier’s Secret

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