Edmaiers Secret, Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, Page, Arizona
EDMAIER’S SECRET IS A NATURAL sandstone formation located in northern Arizona, specifically within the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area near Page, Arizona. It is a hidden gem in the remote wilderness and is named after German landscape photographer Bernhard Edmaier, who first identified the formations from the air.
Edmaier’s Secret is characterized by its intricate and vibrant sandstone patterns, sculpted over millions of years by the forces of erosion. The formations consist of layers of colorful sandstone with unique textures, shapes, and vibrant hues ranging from reds to oranges, yellows, and whites.
These striking patterns are the result of different mineral compositions and the deposition of sediment over time.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/edmaiers-secret
Today was a good one. If you have been following along, when I wrote about the Red Rocks National Conservation Area, I said I was here because International Women’s Day is coming up, which means it is time to revisit Kanab, Utah with Dreamland Safari Tours. Each year they award a few women the Women’s Adventure Award – I was fortunate to win it the last two years, being the only woman to win twice! This year, I return as an alumni to usher in the winners for this year.
Part of the trip meant getting to have an alumni trip from Dreamland Safari Tours. This was the day for it! Dreamland selected, as they often do, a lesser known place that we might not ever see otherwise – Edmaiers Secret! Although it is a published location, it is not a highly traveled location. Closer to Kanab than the hike to Coyote Buttes South yesterday, the road was also less treacherous and I think any AWD vehicle could get there. The trailhead had a map and pit toilets, making it extra nice. The only other vehicles we saw were people looking for rock climbing. Otherwise, we had the location all to ourselves and the big horn sheep.
Today I got to hike with friends! CT and San Diego! They also won the award last year and we became fast friends and have remained so. CT lives in Pennsylvania and San Diego lives in -you guessed it-San Diego. San Diego has done many tours with Dreamland, so she is familiar with many of their guides, including our guide today, Mel. Mel was a gem of a human. She did not skip a beat when I asked her about her thoughts on these tour companies making a profit from taking people like myself to these special locations that are actually public lands (although I suspect she and Dreamland made no money from this particular tour). Mel thoroughly explained how she and Dreamland take special care of their roles as not just guides, but stewards over these lands they love so much. They participate not just in land management, protection, and restoration, but are constantly involved in dialogue with the Bureau of Land Management and other tour companies on systems to preserve and protect the lands, the wildlife, and history of the region.
The photo above is the first location where Mel had something extra special to show us – hidden petroglyphs! This location was off the trail a bit, so we were careful to watch our steps, and within this little slot canyon were hidden messages!
As we hiked through the wash, and sometimes around the wash because the extreme wind (40-50mph) was creating tumbleweed blockages, Mel showed us another really special location with more petroglyphs.
I did not do a good job showing it in the photo, but these ones were very high up.
Once we were out of the wash, we were almost completely hiking on limestone surfaces. The formations along the way up were so bizarre. Sometimes it looked like were were climbing up a surface that looked like a brain, or as CT put it, Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.
Other times, we were faced with this lace type surface, or what I think looks like the inside of corrugated cardboard. The crispy edges are extremely fragile and sometimes It was impossible to avoid stepping on it, and that felt like you were cracking your own heart when you heard the sandstone crumble under foot.
These swirls around certain land formations are just incredible to me. I can easily picture what was happening with the land and air here, and to know it is has survived millions and millions of years to still look like this makes me wonder what it looked like even just one million years ago. The wind here was so strong that we each had at least one turn of slipping because the wind tried to take us off our feet. We had sand in every part of our bodies, including our teeth and beneath our contact lenses.
By the time that most of the group was quite over fighting the wind, we had climbed high enough that Mel said we could not go all that way without seeing some of the most special spots. We never would have found this on our own in the current conditions. The wind had created a tunnel at the top of this one butte and made exceptionally smooth sandstone with some mineral deposits (the dark circles in the photo).
This was the view looking out toward the wilderness from the tunnel.
Again, a wave. We attempted to hide in this special place to have a break and eat some food, which was wildly stupid. Just because the colors are beautiful and the formation is unique, it does not mean that the winds that created it are not still evident. Mel had told us at the beginning of the day that there was 40mph winds forecasted for us, but hopefully later in the day. As the weather goes, forecasts are nearly never precise, and we were pummeled with wind the entire time. When we returned to town, we learned the winds were not only earlier than predicted, but also stronger. We had hiked 6.2 miles, with 2,448′ of elevation gain, in 50+mph winds.
The land formations are simply unreal.
The view hiking back to the trailhead was different from the experience we shared in Edmaiers Secret, but still incredible. I always hate the way back to the trailhead. I always fear I am not going to feel the feelings again that I felt while hiking AWAY from the trailhead. The first sights of a new place, and the curiosity before every turn are things that I want to always feel. Getting to share this other-worldly place with people I care about only made it better. We all had the shared anxiety of knowing that going back to town meant getting ready for The Party. Past award recipients, current year award recipients, the Dreamland admin team, the Dreamland guides, as well as invited guests would be getting together to share dinner and socializing. We dreaded it. But, it turned out wonderfully, of course. And that is how it goes. The things anxiety tells us are often lies. Knowing that does not make the feeling better, but it does make some of us appreciate the positive outcome more than someone without that anxiety does. I did hear a lot of people talking about how this event was the first time they had traveled alone, or had ever hiked, or had ever done this thing or that. All of the things they had described being milestones for themselves are routine requirements for me. And those same people were the ones who appeared to be most at ease during the socializing, or dare I say, enjoyed it. Fucking weirdos. Just kidding. But, still.