While visiting the Farmington Visitor’s Bureau, we obtained directions and a map to the Bisti Badlands. We had attempted to reach this place the week before when we ended up in the wilderness area many miles from here. A bit more planning was required!
Anyway, about 40 miles south of Farmington on NM 371 we took a left turn onto Rd 7297 for 1.9 miles, then left onto Rd 7290 for .9 miles to the parking lot.
You will see the entrance to the Bisti Wilderness next to the parking lot. Be sure to have a map of the area. There are no trails here, so it is really important to have the GPS coordinates of well-known sights (and a GPS device or app). Or, you can just wander around, but be sure to keep track of landmarks for orientation. And we always carry a compass, because here you really just need to head west to return to your car.
Here is a map of the notable sights here. A round-trip hike is around 5-6 miles, depending on how much “wandering around” you chose to do.
Pets are permitted here, so we were excited to do some hiking with our girl, Sadie. The barren landscape has little shade but a wide array of colorful rocks from white to red to black.
We spotted the first landmark on our map, red hills with saddle top.
But we had hardly begun our hike, when Sadie just laid down on the slickrock. It was very, very hot, and we knew this was not a good sign. We have attempted doggie shoes for hot surfaces, but she will not tolerate them. She’s getting older (9), but she normally loves the chance to explore new places.
With some coaxing, Sadie continued along the route to Flat Top. After another half mile, she headed straight for this shady alcove. We took a break and drank lots of water.
Determined to continue, we followed a wash towards another landmark, the double-top black hills. In the wash we came upon this wet area, that I swear looked like quicksand. We thought it might cool off Sadie’s paws, but she would not get near it. When I stuck my walking stick in the muck, it immediately sank about a foot. Yikes! We detoured it.
When we reached the Flat Top, we decided to turn back. We were concerned that Sadie was not enjoying the hike. Or worse, that John may have to carry her back.
We made our way back towards the parking lot (about 1.5 miles) checking out more unique rock formations along the way.
I enjoyed seeing the contrast of the red sandstone on both white sand and black.
We should have attempted this hike either early in the morning or very late in the afternoon as the heat was intense when we visited (August). We were prepared with plenty of water, hats, hiking boots, GPS, compass, etc., but it was too hot for Sadie. Nonetheless, this is an amazing wilderness area with unique rock formations...definitely worth a visit.
For additional information about the Bisti Badlands, go to https://www.blm.gov/visit/bisti-de-na-zin-wilderness.
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