The hoodoos and don'ts of the Bisti badlands - New Mexico wilderness area

Sunset, Nov, 1994 by Matthew Jaffe

THE BISTI WILDERNESS IN NEW Mexico looks like Alice's Wonderland after a century-long drought. This is weird country, a desolate land of petrified wood and mushroom-shaped towers, called hoodoos, that look as though they've been melting in the sun for the last few thousand years.

In a sense, these badlands southeast of the Four Corners area have been melting, thanks to wind and water erosion on a mix of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and coal. The coal oxidizes, which heats the shale, turning the rock a vivid shade of orange.

At first, the Bisti (pronounced bisstie) Wilderness doesn't impress. From the parking lot, you wander up a barren wash for about 1 1/3 to 2 miles, angling toward the northeast. It isn't until you reach the low hills and cliffs, part of a great swamp during dinosaur days, that the Bisti begins revealing its surreal terrain.

Imagine a scaled-down Monument Valley with a sense of the absurd. The towers here are not grand monoliths--most of the rounded mounds are topped by five or six sinuous forms that resemble prairie dogs on alert. There is no special landmark to aim for in the 3,946-acre wilderness, just an endless variation on a theme. As Christopher Barns, a wilderness and recreation planner with the Bureau of Land Management, says, "You don't go to the wilderness for a precise destination. It's the experience that counts." Even though late-fall temperatures can be cool, Barns advises visitors to bring plenty of water because there's absolutely none in the wilderness area.

To reach the badlands from Farmington, drive east on U.S. Highway 64 to State Highway 371, then head south for about 30 miles. Turn left on a gravel road and drive another 2 miles or so to the parking lot. For more information, call the BLM office in Farmington during business hours at (505) 599-8900, or stop by at 1235 La Plata Highway.