Today we did THE WAVE! This hike is quite difficult to get a permit for because only 20 people each day are allowed in (10 win by lottery 
months in advance- 10 win the morning of the hike). Mom won our guided tour at an auction for hospital philanthropy. Last night we drove to Kanab at 9 pm (after back-to-school night) and stayed at the new Holiday Inn (super nice) and them met Ken (who donated 4 of his tickets to the auction) and Brandon (the photographer). We headed out at 6:30 a.m. and hit the trail head about 40 minutes later.Kids, this thing was breathtaking. Everyone jokes that it would be the most photographed natural phenomenon in the world if more people could get in. We decided to get our permit's worth and headed past The Wave to the Little Wave and up to some arches and alcoves that were pretty sweet!
This was the first time in my life that I didn't pack enough water, though, and I completely ran out of water hours before the end. The trail was climbing and sand the whole time, NO SHADE!, and it read 108 degrees on our car thermometer! I really struggled with the heat + no water and started to feel the effects pretty bad: Nausea, shivers, dizzy, shakes, head ache... YIKES!Q saved the day. The NIGHT IN CHIVALROUS SHINING ARMOR draped his frozen camel back on my neck and it saved me, but it was still rough. When we finally
made it back to the car I drank about 2 liters of ice cold bev in about a minute flat. I wasn't the only one struggling- some tourist just ahead of me got heat stroke pretty bad and had to ditch his $$$$$$$ photography equipment to make it back. He rushed to Kanab to get first aid. Never mind the fact that he had drank 5 more liters than I did on the trail and we hiked about 3 hours further, higher, and longer than he did!It is so NOT like me to underestimate the power of the desert but for some reason (maybe because school started) I was thinking it was Fall. I'm still HOT even after dinner, blasting AC on the way home, and a cold shower! So worth it... but I'll NEVER run out of water on a trail of death again, I can tell you that much!
Pictures to come. We've had so much going on this much I can't keep up!
