As usual I am quite late in getting these photos posted… Anyway, I was lucky enough to be invited to go to the wave (North Coyote Buttes permit area to be specific) on the first weekend in April. It is about the perfect time go. Our weather was a touch on the cold side, but I am fine with that.
I will admit that I was a bit nervous about with such a large group (it was a group of 9…two of my friends drew online permits for 4 and another grabbed a walk-up permit). By the end of the day, I was ecstatic with the trip. The large group worked out just fine. Everyone in the group was pretty laid back and very capable. Good, good times. We took the time to explore quite a bit of the permit area. I think that there are only a few locations in the permit area that I know about but haven’t seen yet.
Anyway, we got a pretty early start. We started shortly after sunrise when it was still cold enough to be chilly with long sleeves, gloves, and hats. It quickly warmed up and most of the group had removed gloves and hats by the time we arrived at the first area of interest…the lace rocks. The lace rocks are a nice little detour that I like to take on the way into the wave. It works out well as you can start early, take the detour, and then arrive at the wave at just about the right time for the good light.
On the approach to the main lace rock area there are a couple of what I call skeleton rocks. Here is an image of one of them composed with some nice diagonal lines.
There is also a nice sweeping curve in the rock. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.
Finally, we arrived at the main lace rock area. It is like nothing else I have ever seen. It is mind boggling and very, very fragile. You expend a fair bit of energy watching where you step and trying not to destroy this beautiful area. There are a treasure trove of abstract photo opportunities. Here are some beautiful ridges in the rock.
We had a dog along with us on the trip. I thought he gave some scale and interest to the area.
Finally, here is an abstract of the lace rock. I haven’t been able to get a nice image of the entire lace rock to put it into perspective. I think I need to arrive a bit earlier in the morning to get good shots of the entire rock. I will try to do that on my next trip.
We left the lace rock area and headed off toward the wave in order to arrive about mid-morning for the good light on the main wave. Along the way we did allow ourselves at least one break…
Before entering the main wave we decided to take a detour to see what I have started to call “the vee.” It is a beautiful little formation off to the side of the main wave. It looks pretty from the outside but is simply stunning when you enter the formation. I liked this abstract view of the heart of the vee. I wanted to like the color version of this photo, but the light was just a bit too harsh…in the end black and white works just as well.
We did finally make it to the main wave and everyone stood around to admire, chat, and take some photos. We arrived at what seemed to be a pretty good time for the light. I put on my panoramic tripod head and took a number of photos from different angle and the like. I had a difficult time deciding which ones I liked best, so a number of them are posted below.
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A classic view of the wave.
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A low profile from the left side.
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Another low profile shot but from the right side. I think that this is my favorite image from the main wave…if only I had notice the person’s shadow and asked them to move for a second or two…
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The main wave from a bit farther back.
This photo shows an odd lighting phenomenon that I hadn’t noticed or seen before at the wave. Sections of it seemed to luminescent. It was really quite striking. This time the photo is pretty true to what you saw with your eyes. Good stuff!
I then climbed up higher and over to the right to get a different view of what I call the heart of the wave.
Here is a photo highlighting the diagonal lines.
Medium version
A final panoramic of the heart of the wave.
After photographing the main wave, we grabbed a bite to eat. After lunch, we wandered indecisively for a bit until someone had the sense to head up before going down. We took the reasonably straightforward route up to top rock. This is an area on the rocks above the wave. The views of the wave and surrounding area are top notch. There is also an arch up there. I didn’t like my photos of that arch, so they aren’t posted.
At this point, I pulled out my longer lens and took a few photos of the wave area at higher levels of zoom to provide some better insight into the views from up top. Here you can see the brain rocks in the left of the image and the wave with a few people near the top in the right of the image.
Here is a nice zoomed view of some folks standing at the top of the main wave.
From the top rock area there are nice views of both the north and south teepees. I would like to head out there sometime…there wasn’t enough time this trip though…
We left the top rock arch area and headed off to look for Melody Arch and the alcove area. We came upon the alcove area first. The light was pretty harsh and the photos didn’t really do justice to this fantastic area. Here is a view of part of the alcove from afar.
The sandstone is weathered away is some really beautiful ways in different parts of the alcove.
One particular section had these beautiful black dots embedded in the rock. I guess they sort of reminded me of super mini moquis.
I did put people in the photos on occasion for some scale.
I probably should have tried to do an HDR of this image. I just couldn’t get the detail I wanted in both the dune and the wall of the alcove with my camera. It is a really, really nice view with your own two eyes though…
A nice abstract of the beautifully weathered sandstone in the alcove.
After a bit of searching, we did find a straightforward access to the Melody arch area. There is a window in the rock wall that provides a nice view of the teepees.
Farther back, there is also an arch…Melody arch.
As we searched around a bit to find our way back down, I snapped another photo of the surreal looking landscape from above. It truly looks like another world up there. Great stuff!
We descended near the second wave and I grabbed my token photo of the second wave. One of these days I hope to take a shot of the second wave that I actually like. I try each time and have been disappointed so far. Oh well, another good reason to go back 
The last place I really wanted to see is what is often referred to as sand cove. I believe that is the area we explored, but I should probably double check some descriptions before saying that for certain. I would rather call the area the boneyard after the photo by Fatali that I would guess is taken in this area. On the way to the area there is a very nice set of red and bright whit striations shown here.
How about another people shot with folks shooting the red and white stripes.
Just beyond the stripes, you enter the boneyard area. It is full of what I call the skeleton rocks. We only had a short time here, but I found the area to be fascinating. There are probably a few too many photos of these guys, but I really like them.
The lichen on some of the rocks really adds to the image.
This rock really looked like a spaceship on a pedastal to me. Maybe I have watched too much Star Wars lately, but I really think it is a petrified model of a spaceship…or something.
We finished up at the boneyard and headed down a shallow slot canyon toward the entrance to the wave and our way back. We found a small pour off obstacle that we were able to navigate around although it may be best to not go down the slot. On our way out we also looked for the dinosaur tracks. We aren’t totally sure that we found them, but we found something we thought might have been them. If we did indeed find the dino tracks they aren’t super impressive.
Overall it was a fantastic day at the wave. Good company, good views, and good times!
This is a pretty basic description. If you have managed to read this far and would like better directions or GPS coordinates for some of the formations feel free to let me know and I can provide some information.
