Coyote Buttes

Coyote Buttes is a section of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs wilderness. The Vermilion Cliffs are the second “step” up in the five-step Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau, in northern Arizona and southern Utah. They extend west from near Page, Arizona, for a considerable distance, in both Arizona and Utah. Coyote Buttes is made of Jurassic age Navajo sandstone that is approximately 190 million years old. Scientists who study this area say that the old sand dunes turned into hard compacted rock over the ages, calcifying in vertical and horizontal layers. Erosion by wind and rain has created the spectacular landscape which appears now.

The Cottonwood Cove Trail head is an undeveloped access point that provides entry to Coyote Buttes South. There are no trails, direction signs or other navigational information. And to get to it, there is nothing but sand. So we decided to hire a guide which I thought was a good idea since I have no deep sand driving skills, and I know my 7500 lb truck (which does have four-wheel drive) is a pig in sand and snow. Our guide was this tall skinny guy who was sporting a biker look with his pony tail and a good share of tattoos and piercings. Not what someone would expect as a guide in this area. And the kicker was his thick German accent! I love this guy! So we met up with our guide at 3:00 am in a parking lot at a strip mall in the town of Page. If this was any other place other than Page, (i.e., most cities in Calif.) I think we would have just kept on driving. After loading our camera equipment into his rig, we were off into the middle of the night for a 3 hour drive to Coyote Buttes. We got there before sunrise and waited making small talk, and I mean small talk. Our guide was not one for talking. Ask him a question and be prepared to wait for a good 10-15 seconds before he started answering. After a couple of times I got hip and didn’t repeat my question to him, thinking he didn’t hear what I was asking. I was so glad it started getting light that we were off exploring and photographing in no time. And just like so many other photo days, time had ran out way too soon, and it was time to leave. We will return…

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