Dear Reviewer,
This is the saddest review we have ever responded to. The two hikers who went on the Wave tour with Kelly on the day that she spoke with 4 trespassers assert strongly that they did not write this. The details match up perfectly with a day that Kelly, who has a passion for protecting the North Coyote Buttes, saw four very unprepared hikers who were not permitted to be there. They did not have ample food, water, hats, proper walking shoes, etc. And, they did not win permits. Acting out of concern for their safety, she asked them if they had permits. Once she found they did not, she asked them to leave the area out of respect for those who had rightfully obtained permitting. As a former BLM officer, Kelly is comfortable with making sure hikers are safe, prepared, and rightfully there.
The permitting process is there for a reason. We understand that it is not easy to obtain permits, however there is so much to see outside of North Coyote Buttes! Hundreds of people come to the lottery each week in Kanab, and those who are not lucky have a plan B in mind. And usually that plan B does not involve sneaking in. You can see how it would perturb Kelly to overhear visitors to Kanab talking about sneaking in (another part of this story that only the 4 trespassers would have heard).
Previous to this review, Kelly's guests had only positive things to say. After hiking with her guests on the date of this Wave tour (May 10th), Kelly felt they had all had a good experience, even though she needed to take some time to speak with trespassers. That is why she was deeply troubled upon reading this diatribe. She wrote her guests immediately, explaining that her passion for protecting the area was the impetus behind guarding it fiercely. And here's the crazy thing: THE GUESTS WROTE KELLY BACK AND SAID THEY DIDN'T WRITE THAT REVIEW! So not only do the writers of this review feel comfortable trespassing at the Wave unsafely, they feel comfortable posing as someone else in order to hurt Kelly and our company!
That tour consisted of a mother and son, and here is the email response to the review:
"Hi Kelly,
I hope all is well! This is Brad from the recent Wave tour with my mother, Sheila.
My wife and I reviewed the Trip Advisor comment we think you are referencing, and neither my mother nor I wrote that review (or any review quite yet).
Is it possible that another couple had a similar situation as us? We really enjoyed you as our tour guide, and I was supportive of you protecting the area from unregistered hikers.
Either way, that review was not from us and I am sorry to hear that the review hurt you so much. We will definitely write a very positive review soon! Wishing the best going forward."
To answer the question as to the possibility of this being another couple: there is no other tour to the Wave that Kelly has taken that matches the description in the review than the one with Brad and Sheila.
Here is a transcript from the voicemail Sheila left with us upon reading the trespasser's review:
"Hi this is (sb) and I got an email from Kelly apologizing due to a review that was put out on Tripadvisor that she thought I was complaining... that was not my review, but I was with her at that time. I am really disturbed that someone was kind of impersonating me and my son, but that was not me that gave her a two star. I thought she was super, I do not have one complaint about her I'm going to reply to her email. I'm going to see if I can reply to the review. I'm just really disturbed that someone would do that, I'm sure it was people from the group of four, that one of them did this. My son and I went out on the tour with Kelly on May 10th. Again that's not my complaint, I haven't even written a review about it, when I do, it's going to be a great review."
And here is the legitimate review from the hikers on May 10th, which you may see posted on May 20th:
"Our hiking lottery day was May 10, 2021. Kelly was our guide and she was fabulous. She was very informative, got us in The Wave at the best time when the sun highlighted it's features, and was excited to show us some other rock formations like the Second Wave and the Boneyard. We felt safe hiking over the terrain because she continually explained what we were doing next. We had sufficient breaks. Kelly allowed us some private time to enjoy The Wave. So glad we had Kelly instead of doing this on our own. I highly recommend The Kanab Tour Company and Kelly as a guide."
We wish we didn't have to respond to such a false misrepresentation of one of our guides, but as this review was allowed to stay up, we needed to defend Kelly, whom we love and appreciate as one of the best out there.