Bisti Badlands Day Trip

Alice's mom (Donna) was in town for a week enjoying New Mexico. She and Alice spent three days in Taos and a day in Mountainair. On Friday, the whole family loaded into the minivan and trekked to the Bisti Badlands. I had been curious as to what was there, so this was a good opportunity to do some exploring.



The Bisti is a desolate region about 35 miles south and southeast of Farmington, NM. We got out of our house late in the morning and had several delays before we got out of town. After a quick stop at the Firestone and Smiths for for donuts, we headed north on highway 528 out of Rio Rancho. This proved to be a timeconsuming adventure as there was a fatal balloon accident on the highway earlier and all traffic was being rerouted. Eventually we headed north on highway 550 towards Farmington. Shortly after passing the turnoff for the Chaco Cultural Center, we took a short cut on road 7500, cutting off 75 miles of travel. Instead, we followed the dirt road for 12 miles until we came to the utterly remote De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area. We stopped there and hiked for 45 minutes through a small wash to see some stark landscapes. We saw deer tracks in the wet sand of the wash. We found several small chunks of petrified wood and mounds of cracking mud.



14 miles further along this dirt road, we came to Highway 371. We followed the highway 7 miles north until we came to the turn-off for the Bisti Badlands. We followed the access road for 3 miles to the parking lot. There was one other car there when we arrived, but we crossed paths with the returning family 100 yards beyond the gate. We had the entire wilderness area to ourselves for the duration of our visit.


After passing through the gate at the parking lot, there is a large plain of sand that is the main drainage path. A wash passes through the center. There had been rain at some recent time because there were some puddles in the wash and a lot of wet sand in it. The wind was blowing pretty strongly from the north as we tramped across the plain toward the interesting geology. Here we are crossing the plain.

It should be noted that there are no designated trails here. When exploring the badlands, one is allowed to wander aimlessly and take in the emptiness at his own pace.

After traversing the flood plain, there begin to be mounds or hills of volcanic rock. The rock color ranges from typical black lava rock to a bright red lava rock. This rock is interspersed with the sedimentary features which range from stiff mud formations to sandstone hoodoos. We stopped and took a family picture at one of these hills where sandstone overlayed the bright red rock.






In some ways, the Bisti is how I pictured Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. It is empty and barren, yet oppressive in its features. It is easy to wander and find yourself in a tight spot and all alone. If one isn't careful, he could easily wander for quite some time finding the right direction as distances are confused by the hills, mounds and formations that dot the landscape. It is truly a surreal place. See more photos here.