Right on the Utah-Arizona border, halfway between Kanab and Page, there's a canyon that once was a closely held secret. People sometimes blindfolded visitors before taking them there. It's a special place called "The Wave."

Even today The Wave isn't marked on most maps. The general area is labeled "Coyote Buttes," a protected wilderness. After signing in, we follow a well-marked trail, for awhile.

But as we venture out onto slickrock, the trail vanishes. In fact, wherever hikers put trail-markers, government rangers knock them down. They don't want a trail. Not so many years ago, there was a conspiracy of silence.

Roger Taylor, U.S. Bureau of Land Management: "Some of our staff on the Arizona strip were very reluctant to tell anybody about the area."

As we venture further into the wilderness, we see hints of what's to come: Red Rock, painted with flowing stripes and unusual bands of color. Giant pleats carved by wind and water.

As we cross the state line into Arizona we catch a glimpse of our destination, a small hanging canyon. If we didn't know where to go, we'd walk right by it.

And suddenly we're there, in a place that astounds even a veteran canyon-country geologist.

Bob Blackett/Utah Geological Survey: "This is fantastic, isn't it? It's hard to imagine this."

Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. There really is a place that looks like this.

Bob Blackett, Utah Geological Survey: "A deposit of ancient sand dunes, frozen in time from 200 million years ago."

This is a place where sand and rock, water and wind interacted, across an ocean of time, to make something very close to art.

Mike Salamacha/U.S. Bureau of Land Management: "It's indescribably, I think, because it's-- everything is just so spectacular here. And surreal."

There are delicate ridges of sand, frozen by time into a texture of beauty. Draperies of stone that look like fine cloth. Loops and whorls, almost literally the fingerprints of Mother Nature.

Bob Blackett: "It's beautiful, delicate."

Mike Salamacha: "It looks real imaginary. It's like what some artist would come up with. If they could."

The Wave is little-known in America, famous in Germany, where many visitors come from.

"You know, it's like no other place, and so they get excited."

But the scenery is fragile, easily damaged.

Roger Taylor: "You know, when you come in, it's just spectacular. You just love it. So the dilemma is, how many people do you allow?"

Some years ago, the government began a permit system: only ten visitors a day.

Roger Taylor: "I just can't imagine having the number of people that you have, say in Zion Canyon, for example, coming in and out of here on a daily basis. It would just ruin the area."

Some say a visit to The Wave is like a religious experience, a walk across the canvas of a brilliant artist. As we took our leave, we were already making plans for a return visit next year.

If you want to go, the hike is not very tough. Only a couple of miles each way. But getting a reservation can be very tough. We had to sign up six months in advance. It's already almost completely booked for next spring.

Our advice-- get on it now. You can connect to the reservation site by Clicking here for http://paria.az.blm.gov/coyotepre.html.