05/08/08 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
Drove 215 miles from Page, AZ to Farmington, NM yesterday. Did some shopping at Wal-Mart then drove the 30 odd miles to the Bisti Wilderness.
Some big time winds last night. The old van was rocking and rolling.
Some clouds in the sky this morning but the sun was shining for the most part.
I headed out from the trailhead about 7:45 and drifted south (to my right). I'd been there before and knew what to expect. I wasn't disappointed. White hoo doos everyhere.
The last time I was here was quite cloudy too. I hoped to get better pictures this time and blasted away... over 90 photos and that was just the south side... nor did I take many photos in the shade.
Last time I had gone up a small canyon before turning back. This time I kept going and the canyon quickly widened. I saw some reddish hoo doos off to the right behind some black hills. I climbed the hill and found a whole new area to explore some other time. If I get distracted by all the scenery on the way up I'll never get much farther, though.
I found and eagle's nest (or at least a hawk's) perched up high on a spire. The spire was somewhat in the shade so I walked around to the left to get better sunlight and found... you guessed it, more hoo doos and another area to explore on some future trip.
I got half way back to the trailhead when things got dark and the winds started again, big time. They continued the rest of the afternoon.
05/13/08 Hiking Bisti Wilderness:
The other day was overcast so I skipped Bisti and went down to Chaco Canyon National Historical Park (see next report) for a few days. Got back yesterday and the wind was howling again and the clouds move back in.
Went out this morning to the north side of the wash under overcast skies. I wandered around for a couple of hours. Of course the overcast started to clear up as I was heading back. Oh, well... maybe next year. Time to head back to Utah.