09/14/07 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
Had a hell of a time even finding NM 371 then had to drive 35 miles to the wilderness area. This area is mostly Navajo Indian Reservation so there's no opportunity to camp there. Farmington is the nearest town to the wilderness and its 35 miles away. I went to the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) office in Farmington and they didn't have any information either. Its not easy to get to and there isn't a lot of documentation on the wilderness so most people don't even know about it.
I first found out about the Bisti Wilderness in a book on photographing the southwest and was intrigued by those photos. There are no trails, so when I got to the parking area I just wandered off into the wilderness... after setting the GPS so I'd know where the van was.
I was kinda tired from the early start I got today and from driving down from Silverton, Colorado so I didn't want to go very far. I simply turned right and headed for some small cliffs about 1 mile away.
Pretty good choice too. That particular area is full of 20-30 piles of something stacked close together forming mini-canyons all around them. The thing that makes much of the wilderness unique is thick layers of clay were deposited millions of years ago and then a layer of sandstone formed on top of the clay. Wind and water took their toll over the eons eroding both the clay and the sandstone. But, since clay is softer than sandstone much, but not all, of it eroded from beneath the sandstone leaving some interesting formations. The most common of these is the mushroom or toadstool, with a narrower clay stalk and a sandstone top.
These canyons didn't have any toadstools yet but the erosion was forming some pretty patterns that eventually would turn into them. I wandered around this area for an hour or so and then headed back to Farmington where I got a motel room and a shower.
09/15/07 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
Drove the 35 miles back to the wilderness and got there by 8am. The sky was blue in Farmington but I was driving right into some ominous looking clouds. It didn't rain but the sun hid most of the morning and I didn't take many pictures. Actually I took 75 but only a few when the sun was hiding.
I went to the right of the hills by the parking area and continued a mile along a fence until it dead ended at a wall then I just wandered off to the right. A half mile trek in a generally northerly direction brought me to the edge of a huge number of hoodoos, most in the shape of mushrooms. Most were down in these small washes and canyons but some actually clung to the cliff rims.
Some of the piles were red, some black and some beige making interesting contrasts. I wandered around this 1/2 mile square area for an hour or so. Soon as I left the sun came out for a brief period.
I drifted across more piles and across the valley towards some GPS coordinates I had for some more interesting stuff. On the way I found some interesting formations and a whole bunch of small hoodoos. Mushrooms and other goodies less than 2 feet tall. The sun was kind enough to come out too and I got some decent photos.
After that I headed on back to the parking area. Chaco Canyon National Historical Park is only 10-15 miles from the wilderness and I thought I'd go down there for the afternoon. Unfortunately it turns out the number of miles driven is not the same as the actual distance. I drove south 40 miles, then turned east for 12 more and finally north for another 20.
The north road is dirt/clay but pretty good overall. However, there are a lot of bad spots caused by sandstone embedded in the road. I was somewhat tired to start with and became angry with all the bumps and quit after 5 miles. Threatening rain clouds had something to do with it too. Then I had a 95 mile drive back to Farmington. I shouldn't have tried to squeeze it into 1/2 day.
09/27/07 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
I went back to Colorado for the fall season and returned to Bisti when it got too cold for me. Today I re-did the hike of the 15th, more or less. At least I was over in that area because all I did was wander where ever my feet took me.
Bright sunshine today and took lots of pictures. Found some petrified fire too. Really! A burnt, petrified tree or at least a small part of one. I spent a couple of hours in the area. I found myself drifting to the west and found another flat area with a canyon at the far end with lots of hoo doos at the entrance. Something to look forward to the next time I come.
09/28/07 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
Camped overnight not far from the trailhead. Clouds are back this morning, some quite threatening. I headed up the flat area to the right of the trailhead and kept drifting to the right until I hit the hills and then just followed them north.
Found lots of hoo doos north of two red hills and then two black peaks farther on. 2 miles from the trailhead things narrow down to a canyon on the right. Lots more hoo doos there and some in the off shoots of the canyon too. I didn't go too far. The clouds were nasty looking and the whole place is clay and not a place to get caught in when it starts raining so I skedaddled.