Naturally occurring coal beds caught fire due to lightning. Bright red “clinker” is formed when nearby shale is baked in these fires. |
These wild formations happen because sandstone “caps” are more resistant to erosion than the soft shales underneath. |
What is this? |
Eventually, because there is nothing else you can do, you figure out what suits you. Only then can you experience the sense of freedom that comes from following your intuition and your instincts.
Not to get too philosophical, but sometimes I think that this is sort of the point. To feel free to make your own way. To stop feeling uneasy when all the other tracks are going the other way, and then when the other tracks disappear altogether.
Which way to go? |
How'd I get up here? |
In the last half mile, being on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence provides another exciting wildlife encounter. |
More Information:
Call the BLM Farmington Field Office to check about road conditions before you go. The Bisti parking area is three miles down gravel roads from the highway. The road was rough but doable in a small car, but I’d imagine it gets impassible after snow.
The information board at the trailhead offers a few suggestions to get you started. A map shows locations of geological features like an arch and some of the large petrified logs.
Pay attention and use your route-finding skills. Start by following the wash eastward. It gives a sense of security to know you can always find your way back by following the water/mud/place where water had been back down to the parking area.
Follow the wash. |
The most important thing to remember when you visit is that it’s our responsibility to preserve this unique place for the future. Leave all fossils and petrified wood where you find them so they can be enjoyed by other visitors and by future generations.
Lichen on petrified wood. |
Hunt, A. P. “Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness.” In: The Geology of Northern New Mexico’s Parks, Monuments, and Public Lands, ed. L. Greer Price, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, 2010.
Also this week I read Craig Child’s The Secret Knowledge of Water, which seemed particularly relevant in this landscape, and may be of interest.
Frozen. |
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