Made popular by social media, The Wave is now one of the most competitive places to visit. In 2022, only 3% of applicants were successful in getting a permit. Here is how you can maximize the odds of getting one.
To visit Coyote Buttes North and see The Wave, you must get a permit through one of the 2 lotteries. Either the monthly lottery or the daily lottery.
Select a hiking period below to know when to apply to the lottery:
Hack To enter the daily lottery, Recreation.gov checks that your device’s GPS is within 40 miles of Coyote Buttes (lat: 37.019, long: -112.037). See map. But you can use a GPS faking app to get around this restriction ;)
We don’t have data on that, but it looks like larger groups have just as good of a chance as small groups. Applications are drawn at random, one at a time, with no preference for smaller groups.
If you enter the monthly lottery, you have the best chances of getting a permit in winter (apply in the fall). For the daily lottery, summer has the best odds of success.
When entering the monthly lottery, Wednesdays and Saturdays are best. However, the odds of getting a permit in the daily lottery don’t change that much.
Enter the monthly lottery or the daily lottery at the appropriate time. Find the correct application date on our guide to The Wave.
Entering the lottery is the only way to get a permit to visit The Wave. However, you can visit Coyote Buttes South which is just as beautiful and easier to get permits for!
Never miss a permit deadline ever again!
Once a month, receive the list of top permits that are opening up
The success rate charts were created using historical reservation data provided by Recreation.gov. Reservation data past September 2022 isn’t yet available, therefore, lottery success rates for September—December use 2021 reservation data.