A Jaw Dropping Place In New Mexico, This Wilderness Area May Blow You Away

Transcript

Speaker: This is Not Your Average Bucket List by Only In Your State, a podcast about exploring the hidden gems right in your own backyard. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of Not Your Average Bucket List by Only In Your State. This week, we are heading out west to one of my favorite states, New Mexico. I'm here with my co -host, Sarah. Hi, Sarah. Hey, Marissa. How are you?

Speaker: I'm doing well. I'm very excited to talk about this place in New Mexico today that I feel like is right up our alley because we're forever talking about places that are otherworldly and like, wow.

Speaker: Yeah, this is like the place. Honestly, if I go to New Mexico soon, I have to go here because as I was scrolling through pictures, I'm just like, jaw on the floor. I have to go. Love it. Yes. So this is like straight out of a sci -fi movie, very extraterrestrial place. And have you heard of this place before?

Speaker: No, and, you know, just to be totally honest, but it kind of tracks for me. I read the name. I know the pronunciation, but the like the cannon in my head, I'm like, oh, yeah, we're going to talk about Dave Batista wilderness today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we see the the beast, like Bisti. Oh, I lost it. I had it and I lost it with Bisti Bisti Denozan, Bisti Denozan. Yeah. I heard it was

Speaker: This time, denovan. So I've heard it pronounced both ways. I did a lot of, I was deep diving, so I was like, don't screw this up, Marissa. You gotta get this one right. You always got it. You respect the names much better than I do. I try, and then I immediately panic, and then my head's like, no, say this. Stay Matista. But, you know.

Speaker: I do like that we can just call it the Bisti Badlands because that is another nickname. That is a great shorthand. Right. Yes. I do want to say Bisti. I don't know why. I'm like, Bisti, Misty, that's how my brain is doing it, but I've heard it's Bisti.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, it is based on Navajo language, right? So that's probably why are like my shorthand of like, Oh, Bisti, that's not right. Yeah. So it is a, so translation wise. Yeah. Bisti means a large area of shale Hills. And then the denazin part is Navajo for cranes. Hmm.

Speaker: Okay. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, first of all, I'm adding this to my bucket list because this place looks insane. It equal parts, fascinating and terrifying. And we could get to that a little bit later, but I just wanted to kick off with an excerpt from new Mexico .org.

Speaker: to kind of paint a picture here for people listening to see, you know, to give them an idea of what we're talking about if they've never seen pictures. Also, if you would love to pause this podcast right now and go Google it, I highly recommend. But yeah, NewMexico .org.

Speaker: fondly known as the Bistai Badlands. It's a breathtaking vista of otherworldly rocks, boulder sculptures, pinnacles, towering mythical totems, and the extraterrestrial vibe that other parts of New Mexico are more famous for.

Speaker: I thought that kind of summed it up. 100%. Also, I love so much that the sandstone rock formations are called hoodoos. Yes. I already knew that, but I just love it. I love it so much. Agreed. I think that's why researching this, because yes, I knew what hoodoos were just in general, but then I was just kind of like, wait, but what are they really?

Speaker: these giant, thin, tall spires of rock that form by erosion. They're called hoodoos. It's usually soft rock that is topped by harder, less easily eroded stone, turns into this column spire from the elements, and it just looks absolutely beautiful.

Speaker: Yeah. And if you're familiar with sandstone, that is a softer, like you could almost like scrape it with your nails. So like that's the stuff that's getting eroded by, you know, wind and water and all this stuff in time. And it's just like, that's why it's hollowed out. And it's almost, oh my gosh, it creates the most unusual shapes. And there are so many different kinds. And I can't wait to get to that because throughout these formations, they all have these different looks and like these like little names for all the different ones that there are. And it's really, really cool.

Speaker: Not to mention that it's just also in an area of the country. For me, I haven't spent a lot of time in the Four Corners region. I've never been to the Four Corners. That's so cool. It's just a part of the country, I think, has a lot of appeal for me right now. Yeah. I agree with you. I've never heard of this place before. I've been to New Mexico a bunch of times. You haven't. You've never heard of it. I've never been. No, I've never been. Okay. Yeah. This is all new to me. Honestly, when I was looking at these photos and

Speaker: I watched this YouTube video of this guy just going through different areas of the Badlands and I was just fascinated by

Speaker: First of all, the fact that there are no marked trails, this is - I did see that. Why did you do that? If you don't have GPS and honestly out there you might not, you need to get paper maps, I don't know, a compass. It makes me nervous already. I get upset whenever I'm on a trail and I don't see the next blaze. I'm like, oh God, well I'm lost forever now.

Speaker: You're in the middle of the desert with no signage or markings and you're just in an alien landscape. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that really scares me. First of all, the area itself of the Bistai Badlands, it's

Speaker: ancient Delta land that was 70 million years ago, basically it was a swampland and there were dinosaurs galore all over the area. I'll get out. So imagine just having it with like just that juxtaposition now it's this arid desert, but 7 million years ago, swampland dinosaurs, you know, scientists still, they excavate every year and they're finding

Speaker: fossils up the walls. That's amazing. Yeah, I think that's so fascinating. And then just now it's so different from that.

Speaker: Wow, that really is something that makes you stand in awe of our landscape in the United States because yeah, so there are spawn plants out west. This area was underneath an ocean and you can't see it so much because of all the tree coverage and stuff, but whenever you go to the glacial rocks and things and all the limestone, you can see, yeah, you see a bunch of trilobites and things like that because we were underwater.

Speaker: I think that is just so fascinating. Also, in addition to not having signage, being a prehistoric swamp basically, this is a 45 ,000 acre wilderness area and you definitely want to bring water. You got to know that this is serious stuff if you're out in the middle of nowhere taking a walk.

Speaker: And it's just, uh, it's, it can be a challenging environment too, because in the springtime it's the windy season. So you get a lot of sandstorms because all of the erosion from the sandstone and all of the like desert region is just going to like blow up at you. Um, so then you can imagine how the hoodoos are formed. So, no, I think, yes, definitely a good point. People have to bring water. Also, I was reading it's like 30 miles in.

Speaker: to get to where you need to be. This is not a very well marked area. This is not like entering into Yosemite and you have a map to guide you that's provided by National Park Service. It's a lot of choose your own adventure kind of stuff.

Speaker: It is, it is. And I saw that there was some like first visit tips that I came across on the wave .info that I thought was really, really helpful. So apparently there are two main washes in the bis, bis tie, not bis tie, in the bis tie. Um, they run east to west with west being downstream and the northern wash is the hunter wash and the southern wash is the bis tie wash.

Speaker: Apparently, the main parking area provides access to the Bistai Wash. If you're a first -timer, you should start there. One, it's probably going to be more populated because it's the main parking area and it'll give you some more markers of getting back to your car. However, if you want to go to the Hunter Wash, you can access it from just going through the different formations that are in the area.

Speaker: the Bistai wash, there are lots of great photo opportunities. Like I said, it's closer to parking, but you have these formations known as, which we can describe, I don't know now or later, but you got the cracked eggs, you have the rock garden, and then if you explore the hills, there's an area near the Bistai wings, which is really a great photo spot, which that's one of my favorites is the wings. I think it's like, it almost looks like

Speaker: someone's standing in the middle of the desert with wings outstretched behind them. It's so cool. And then yeah, I think you can access Hunter Wash if you're near the wings area. So there are a lot of really cool things you can see, but yeah, it's kind of a trek to get there. And if you're going there for the first time, I'm hearing you should go to the Bistai Wash.

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Speaker: I do know that, first of all, we should let people know that this area is free and it's always open. There's like, you know, it's like the rules are, there are no rules kind of place. It's just leave no trace, very important. Also, I saw the, since the wilderness area, motorized vehicles and like mechanical transportation, like once you're in it, those are prohibited. So like mountain bikes, drones, carts, stuff like that.

Speaker: Yeah, that's also very important because yeah, you want to respect this place. Obviously, it's taken many, many years to form, so we don't want to just be trampling through with our four -wheelers. Also, imagine someone taking a Jeep and ramming it into one of these hoodoos and just like, that one, no bueno. I can't imagine it, believe me. Right, yeah. But I don't want to.

Speaker: But yeah, the terrain, you'll expect when you get there, the terrain, it's a lot of hard packed silt, sandstone, Sarah mentioned, mudstone, gravel. There's even coal, these coal deposits that it's known for. It's like coalified wood scattered throughout the park. Can you even call it a park?

Speaker: It's just badlands, right? It's not really... I think it's a wilderness area, technically. Okay. Yeah. And speaking of fossils and petrified wood, you are also, unfortunately, prohibited from collecting fossils, petrified wood, building campfires, climbing on the formations that are really delicate, stuff like that.

Speaker: In addition to this, because there are, I think, three different areas of Navajo land, you are prohibited from trespassing onto their lands as well, I think. I'm not sure if those are marked though, so you'd have to have a map and be able to see which spots they are.

Speaker: Okay. Yeah. That's also very important. I would say just because exactly what you said, you know, it's the worst when you get out to a place and your phone stops working and you're kind of just like, Oh, what do I do? Yep. So don't do that.

Speaker: here, because, you know, you could be in a lot of trouble, like serious trouble, because, especially if nobody else is around, bring a map, fill up with water in the car, bring some snacks too, just in case, you know, and then just yeah, have the map in case you're going into an area that you really shouldn't be. Yeah. You know, just for for that as well. But yeah,

Speaker: Yeah. And I do think that it would be easy if you are into nature photography or even just like an amateur photographer to just really spend so much time out here because each of these formations that are spread across the wilderness area are just so unique. And so that kind of on that note of like being prepared, like you might be wandering for

Speaker: way longer than you intend to. Because, oh my gosh, I just want to go through all of these. There's, I know I mentioned the eggs and the wings, but there's also one called the manta ray. I don't know if you've seen that. I'll send you this link and we can add it in the show notes. The rock garden is really sweet. It's just like a bunch of rocks that are all laid out on the ground from erosion and stuff, just little bumps.

Speaker: The two windows, the collared hoodoo, the, oh my gosh, it's the name and the pronunciation is denazin, denazin arch. But there's a whole bunch of different, almost like a scavenger hunt. You could find all of these in your trip and I think it would be so, so fun.

Speaker: Yeah, you know, that's actually a great idea to make like a little checklist for that area if it doesn't already exist. Because I would hate to go and miss something, you know, like the cracked eggs for me are like, stunning.

Speaker: It is alien. It is that scene in Alien. How do these things exist? It's so wild. I know. It really does look like a bunch of alien eggs. Even on little pedestals. I don't know what it is that the weird formation, whatever had to happen, I don't know. It's just bizarre. I love it. They're like these spherical rock formations.

Speaker: that now have this designation, the land of the cracked eggs, and they're so weird. They're like giant dinosaur eggs, and it's almost like some of the pieces have cracked off.

Speaker: So it is. Prove me wrong, aliens hatch there. I will stand by that. I have zero evidence aside from photos. But I do see that it's also a flat two miles from the main Bistai trailhead. So it's easily accessible. Get there, see the eggs by the parking lot. Yeah, so cool. And speaking of aliens, did you see the other rock formation, the alien throne? No.

Speaker: Okay, so another one that's like maybe that maybe we're just like uncovering something that should be in our local lore and legend season. Right. But the alien throne is this giant who do formation that

Speaker: It's basically almost a bunch of these rock spires going up, and then there's a flat one on top that looks like a sea. It looks like a giant sea. Yeah, very weird. But it's just beautiful. These rock formations, I think, are so magical.

Speaker: Yeah, yeah, it's just that's one of my favorite things about being out west is these rock formations and how just either giant or strange they are and this just has them in I don't just dozens of things you can see Not to mention like

Speaker: Even though it is kind of out there, it's in the middle of the desert, it is only three hours from Albuquerque. So you could fly in, take a trip up here. There are nearby towns of Farmington and I think also, what's the other one? If I remember, I want to say it's like Hefuano or, gosh, where'd I put it? Still in New Mexico? Oh, yeah.

Speaker: Still in New Mexico? Still in New Mexico. Yeah, it's an hour south of Farmington and Cuerfano, I think. It's not like you're so far out in the middle of nowhere to where you couldn't get to a gas station. Those signs when you were in the middle of the desert are like, next gas, 300 miles, good luck.

Speaker: And plus, there are some other stuff in the area too, if you wanna, we'll get to that towards the end, but it's not like it's so desolate that you're not gonna see anything else, even though when you're out there and you're walking through, it's gonna feel like you're absolutely alone in the middle of an alien landscape.

Speaker: Yeah, terrifying. And then also it's also dark sky designated park too. So I can only imagine no light pollution once the sun goes down. You know that in and of itself. Also please be mindful everyone that if you're out there and the sun goes down like

Speaker: Just make sure it's gonna be pitch black. That's why they're they've designated this a dark sky. Yes, that is the point Yeah, so but also if you're brave enough to be out there in the dark I'm sure you will have probably some of the best stargazing you've ever seen in your life

Speaker: I see a lot of these formations, the crack dig especially, like people are taking photos and you can see like the Milky Way overhead. It's just gorgeous. Yeah, I would love to go, oh my gosh. You know, I would love to go to a dark sky wilderness area that's open 24 seven and it's not really a park, there's no entrance. However, I would fully line myself with LEDs should I feel in trouble and I can like turn it on immediately. And I'm just like this glowing beacon in the middle of the desert.

Speaker: Just in case. Attracting all the wildlife. I would have air horns. OK, fair. Speaking of wildlife, I think what I was most fascinated with is that despite the fact that this is very arid desert remote, there's still a ton of wildlife in the area. Reptiles, tons of birds. You'll have small mammals. There are coyotes.

Speaker: pronghorm antelope, uh, lizards, and then, um, they're saying like birds of prey too in there. Really? Okay. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, sometimes you might not be alone. Oh gosh. So growing up, you know, I had fears of earthquakes, of quicksand, of all these things that haven't really interfered with my life, but also Gila monsters.

Speaker: I was convinced I was going to die by one because they're just so pretty and vibrant. I had an ocarina that was a little Gila monster. I thought it was so cute. Then I learned how deadly they were. They move fast too for a little stubby guys. They're not slow moving. I can't trust them. They broke my heart.

Speaker: Well, we need you to make your LED suit just to kind of word the - Chainmail LED. I mean, they're in New Mexico, right? You the monsters? I bet you. Yeah.

Speaker: I don't know. I was just fascinated by the, uh, these types of wildlife. The, like, there's a lot still vegetation galore. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Having antelopes. Um, is that what you said, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's wild to me. Like where are they, where are they getting their stuff? Um, just like shrub grass, shrub grass. I'll find one. I'll get the answer.

Speaker: Don't you worry. That's awesome to know though. Like you wouldn't expect it. I'm sure all sorts of bugs and scorpions and spiders snakes. Yikes. Um, yeah. I'm going to find anything about camping in this area. Cause I was like, whether or not it's allowed. Yeah.

Speaker: No, I didn't. I didn't really either. And so that's why I was just like, I wonder if this is not something that people can camp in maybe because it's so protected. But I'm sure because it's it's BLM land. So I was like, you know, BLM is set up for free. So OK, according to Farmington dot org.

Speaker: you can. I don't know. Yeah. You can camp in the Bistai area, Bistai Badlands. Yeah. Pack it in, pack it out. But there are no developed campsites or facilities. It's basically, it's up to you. Good luck. Pack in, pack out. Yeah. But the one thing they did say, I saw no campfires. So maybe it's one of those things where, yeah, you can camp, but you got to be pretty tidy about what you have.

Speaker: This would probably be a cool place to, if they allow, you know, parking, overnight parking to have like a camper van. So, you know, like you can sleep in the camper van, still hike during the day and stuff, still see the sky at night, you know, but

Speaker: Oh, how gorgeous would that be? Yeah. Or even do like the pop out tens from the back of a van or a car. Yeah. That'd be great. I would love to. Um, so yeah, I, what you were saying about the petrified wood and stuff too, like you can't, nobody can take, don't take anything in and out. Don't touch the rocks. Don't, uh, you know, also if it's anything like the petrified forest, you're going to be cursed. So don't. Yeah. I wholeheartedly believe in stuff like that. And I'm not about to risk it.

Speaker: Not with a piece of wood on my shelf. No, no, definitely not. So I did discover there are four main formations in the Bistai Badlands. And this is an order from oldest to newest. I just wanted to... I didn't realize that there are going to be these different rock sequences. So they start with the Fruitland Formation.

Speaker: the Kirtland Formation, the Ojo Alamo Formation, and the Nacimiento Formation. That's where all the little things I was going through, like the colored hoodoos and the conversing hoodoos and things like that, they're all separated into these different rock formations, which is cool.

Speaker: Yeah, I do think these little areas within the park, you know, the ones that people are like, Oh, this is like the mushroom garden and it's just like rocks that look like mushrooms or like the cracked eggs or there's

Speaker: There's like one area that's just all, it's like streaked with color, like red and gray and white. And it just looks beautiful. And I think what really was, what fascinated me the most about this area is that I feel like each section is kind of very different from the last.

Speaker: This isn't just like, I'm not trying to say anything badly about a Grand Canyon, but you know what you're getting with the Grand Canyon. It's a Grand Canyon. That's the tagline. Yeah. But I feel like here, you're getting so much stuff, different rock formations, different types of rocks. You can see what erosion has done, maybe even some dinosaur fossils. I mean, it's like a really neat place.

Speaker: I mean, I feel like a kid in a candy store because whenever I have like an outlook or overlook and there's something unique to see like a certain formation or I don't know, a tree or whatever, I'm like, ooh, this is amazing. You get that little dopamine rush. Here, one after another after another, you have all these different things that are just really going to delight you. So I don't know. I'm booking my trip to Albuquerque as soon as I can because I want to take a trip up to Bistai.

Speaker: So if spring is the windy season and you get sandstorms and summer just going to be hot, it's the desert. When would you go visit these badlands? I mean, out of the two seasons left, I would probably choose fall.

Speaker: Okay. Yeah. I mean, I see in September, it's still in like the eighties, a high of eighties. So it's still like your weather. That's, you know, you'd survive. What about you? You do winter? No, it cold. I mean, I had a very bad experience in Roswell, New Mexico in an RV that was out of propane and I could not heat. It's cold apparently is what I learned. So I don't know.

Speaker: Yeah, maybe like fall tail end of summer or like early spring like I'm not sure when the windy season really picks up but Yeah, just not midsummer. That's that's a lot. I don't want to die of thirst and you know And also just like you have to bring sunscreen. There's really no shade here

Speaker: It's not, you're not going to find many trees. I would be, yeah, no trees. Um, you get the hoodoos. I would basically be a Marlon Brando and Island of Dr. Moreau. Not sure if you've ever seen it where he has like all the white wrapped around him in like a little tent. That would be me. Yeah. That's the way to do it. Um, I will say, um, before we,

Speaker: Do you want to hit on some of our Facebook feedback? Because I thought we got a couple of really great comments about the Bisti Badlands. Yes, absolutely. I have a question for you. I'm not sure if you saw this one comment, but I didn't know if it was a troll comment or if it was real. Snosing? What's that? Was that a typo? Yeah.

Speaker: I'm sorry. I thought it was something outdoorsy. Yeah. I think it meant the right smell. Glad we could immortalize that. All right. Okay. Well. So stupid. Oh, man.

Speaker: It's gonna be like I was comfortable all over again. That's all right. There's there's joy and exploration of the country. Even if I'm a little bit stupid. Okay, so I had to look at that one a couple times too. It's you need to imagine context in order to

Speaker: Well, it reminded me of there are some like, cross country skiing and like dog sledding terms that are kind of like that. Like, there's a shorthand for it. I'm like, Oh, maybe that was something someone was doing that like snows, snowshoeing through the desert or something. That's not the case. Okay.

Speaker: Anyway, I will say there were a lot of comments like, we used to drive up here in our youth and go sunbathing. And I'm like, wow, that is next level. I'm not sure if that'd be something I could do, really. I feel like kind of smart if you're

Speaker: You know, it's private, it's quiet, you get a ton of sun. You know, now it's very much, this was, that comment was back in the 70s. So this, now you got to wear some sunscreen, which. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite comment from Kingbee on Facebook, don't get lost, have water and sunscreen. Just like, straight to the point.

Speaker: love it. No BS. I did like the better carry a compass or leave a trail of bread comes from Gwen. A little bit sarcastic, but also true. No joke. True. Oh man. Okay. Yeah. The other one that like, once I was researching this and then was reading these comments on our Facebook page, Shalita, no road signs, get out of there before dark. And I was like,

Speaker: That's fair. Yeah. 100 % because that would be me. I shared with you during our national parks episode how I got stuck in Big Bend and it was pitch black and never again will I make that mistake. I gave me such anxiety. What if those ladies didn't find you walking?

Speaker: Yeah. I've heard too many, so I have a cousin who grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and her stories are just like, yeah, we got a bunch of people out and we went into the desert and we were camping and then someone just approached our car and we had to hide and be quiet. I'm like, why are you saying this so nonchalantly? There's this vibe of there are desert men or people who are just out

Speaker: cruising through the desert and getting into trouble and stealing your stuff and I don't know. Maybe she was pulling my leg. I don't think so, but not for me. No. Yeah. I do know that when I was living in my van, my camper van and traveling, I was, I think that's where a lot of my anxiety developed because that's beautiful and amazing as that experience was.

Speaker: It's not all that Instagram shows it to be because there are a lot of safety concerns just in general and you have to have your head on a swivel. You can't just be parking randomly. I would always make sure to be

Speaker: either around people or under a light or something. Which is why I don't know if I would camp in this place. Because really, BLM land in general, it's massive. You said this is over 40 ,000 acres of this kind of land. So you're making a choice to be out there if you're on your own. Yeah.

Speaker: You have to be comfortable creatively problem solving. I think that kind of goes with, look, you can bumble off your way through travel, right? And like sometimes a train is late or the plane is canceled or something happens in the hotel is skeezy and you got to go. But so it's great to always be able to creatively problem solve, but something like this

Speaker: If you get out there and you have a flat tire and no one's around and you have nowhere to go, you got to have a contingency plan or 20. With that being said though, we mentioned that Albuquerque is three hours away, but there are also some other attractions nearby. If you are

Speaker: doing a road trip and going through. They're not incredibly close, but close enough you can kind of cobble them together. So two hours away from the park or the wilderness area is the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. That's two hours away, and it has ancestral Pueblian sites. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it has a lot of

Speaker: great examples of ruins and architecture and they have a couple that are just like really cool that you can explore and actually go to the pueblos and stuff and there was also the Salmon Ruins Museum. That is private. It is not the same park, but you just pay an entry and go in and explore. There's also two hours away, the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave. That's a little bit more

Speaker: tourist trapeze to where they're advertising it along the highway. But all the reviews I've seen was like, look, it's actually worth a stop. It's a short trail. You get to see an ice cave. There's a little volcano. Great. And then there's also Mesa Verde National Park. And that's three hours away up in Colorado, right? So just cross through the four corners and head up to the national park. So a lot to do. Yeah, that's awesome. I was just Googling the ice cave.

Speaker: Um, yeah, you know, it's wild as I've been to the four corners before that little, how to feel the plus felt great magic powerful. Yeah. Um, yeah, but it's, I don't know why I didn't go to a lot of these places in the area. I was probably like on a mission going somewhere in my, that's, that's hard. And then like, you, you know, gotta beat the time you have in your head. You know, it's like, well, I can get there in four hours, but maybe three 45. Right.

Speaker: Never know. I didn't like to drive at night either. I would break down. Something would happen. I didn't want to be stuck somewhere in the dark. I would always just try to get to my destination before. I think I missed a lot of these really awesome places that have to be another tour part two. I know. I'm feeling like I haven't

Speaker: I haven't driven across the country and been in this area since 2018. Maybe this time not travel all the way out, but take a flight to somewhere and then only drive five hours instead of the whole kitten caboodle. That's a bit much.

Speaker: Yeah, so, all in all, this time Badlands, we're both adding this to our list, which is like a Cisco and Ebert type of two thumbs up, but two compasses up. So many!

Speaker: Yeah, two dogs up. I will say, I think I've said it before, but I really want to make a list to where we're committing to go into these places. Let's put a timer on it by 2030. If we don't go to any of them, shame on us. I love that. Everyone can be disappointed.

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