2015 Road Trip: Part 10 (De-Na-Zin/Bisti)

De-Na-Zin/Bisti Wilderness, NM
Crossing the Continental Divide
Day 14
4.27.15

As promised, I woke up early in hopes of avoiding being completely buried by several feet of snow.  I was lucky, however, because only a few inches fell during the night.  It was my first time camping in my tent in the snow, and it was pretty neat to wake up with some white stuff all over the orange of the tent.  Every once in awhile, a chunk of snow would fall off the side and I kept overreacting, thinking it was a bear licking my tent or something.

I'll be honest, I thought it was super cool waking up to snow (once knowing that it was totally drivable).  It's great to have variety along a trip, and this was the first time I had seen snow since hiking Camels Hump in VT, over two weeks prior.

Wombat all gnarly and excited to tackle the mountain descent

The road was super pretty in daylight - that's one perk to coming in late at night - you always have a surprise waiting in the morning.  Then again it's not terribly fun wandering around in the dark looking in all the wrong places for a tent site.

Rt. 475 heading into Santa Fe

So this was my second full day in the state of New Mexico.  About now, I started to realize how vast the western states really are.  I can't even imagine the idea of driving along the California coast, which is a staggering 840 miles long.  I haven't even managed quite that much in one day on the trip so far.

Slowly but surely, I was making my way across NM, though I hardly chose a direct route.  I came back into town to catch some internet to find places to check out during the day.  One place I had starred online was the De-Na-Zin/Bisti Wilderness Area, which is in the northwest corner of the state, near Bloomfield.  While reading up on the area on the BLM website, I learned that these are Navajo words that describe the area.  De-Na-Zin comes from the Navajo words for "cranes", and Bisti means "a large area of shale hills".  Little did I know that the quickest route there would be one of the best roads I've found along my trip.

I took I-25 south toward Albuquerque for awhile, and then branched off onto US-550.  This road was nearly a hundred miles of endless buttes and canyon rims, mountains, and of course the most profound part was crossing over the continental divide, into the western side of the hydrological divide of the Americas.  This divide begins in the north at Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, passes through Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and from there follows the Andes though South America.  Along its path is traverses Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and then conforms to the eastern Chilean border, finally ending in most southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. If anyone watched the Patagonia Special that Top Gear UK broadcast this past January, you will know that their road trip through Patagonia ended in Tierra del Fuego, and that is an utterly spectacular place.

Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (not my photo, clearly)

If crossing this divide is not a big deal, then I haven't a clue what is. Below, I'll just have you take a look at the landscape I saw while along US-550.

It's very interesting looking at what I'll call "subtractive geology".  This includes features like canyons, buttes, and mesas.  I realize that other geology is also subtractive, like glacial erosion, but there are also constructive geology features like the convergence of tectonic plates (e.g. Himalayas), but these tend to look more like they rose out of the ground, whereas buttes and canyons looks like the ground was washed away and what remains are these features.  I've gotten a close look at all the different layers that appear along the sides.  Since hiking in the Grand Canyon (yes, a post of that is coming later), I have learned so much about the different kinds of rock that you see there, and why each one is as it is.

I found the gravel road that leads 12 miles to De-Na-Zin, with Bisti another 12 past it where the gravel road meets with Rt. 371.  After seeing tons of these funny things on the roads since at least Texas, I am finally pleased to announce that they are cattle guards, and they work to stop cattle from going through by way of metal slots that are far enough apart that they refuse to walk on it.  This allows vehicles to pass, albeit uncomfortably, without having to operate gates.

Cattle guard

I read that in these wilderness places, there are not really designated trails, and because everything looks nearly the same in every direction, it is extremely easy to get lost.  Because of this, I took some preparatory measures before hiking out into it.  I was sure to bring a book on whale calls so I could listen for the direction of the ocean if I got lost.  (That was a joke.  I brought the GPS with the car's location punched in.)  With no cars allowed in, I followed a sandy path on foot for awhile, until I arrived at a "stream" that was composed of sand and mud.  If it were to ever rain in this area, I assume these would the the paths that water would take to drain away to keep it as dry and uninhabitable as possible.  I followed these almost exclusively because they would be easy to retrace to get back to the trailhead.

What I was surprised to discover is that these funny mounds of grayness were actually very soft, crusty dirt.  I had always imagined that they were solid rock, but I was wrong.  For that matter, nearly everything I stepped on was soft and squishy.

I saw desert cottontail as I was returning back from my small hike, though it was very fast and I was unable to snap a picture of it for y'all. Instead, have a slow and curious cow who crossed the road in front of me.

The Bisti Wilderness proved to be more interested in my opinion.  The access for this is actually on Rt. 371, which confused me since I thought it was along tis gravel road.  But not to despair - there was another gravel road that led into it, so I got my craving of unimproved roads.

The rock formations around here were very funny and lobular.  After close inspection, I realized that harder rock became pedestaled on top of softer rock below, leaving behind many mushroom-like shapes.  They were all eroded with sand, wind, and water to form this "garden" of rock formations, if you will.

I found several patches of rocks high in iron (I'm assuming) that looked all rusty colored.  Further research may be warranted here for increased knowledge.

Now I have a GPS that has a slightly cruel sense of humor.  I wanted to head back toward the central corridor of I-40 again, and that meant heading out of the gravel road.  Well, Mrs. GPS decided to take me the back way out.  The gravel road soon became two sandy tire ruts amongst the shrubberies.  No life or water as far as the eye could see. Of course there were many trails that had been created by other off-roaders before me, making it interesting.  There were patches of trail where it was just dry, compacted dirt, and the tire tracks hardly make an impression.

I don't think I've laughed so much before, because I was receiving turn by turn directions...in the middle of a desert.  Bumping along a sandy track, I hear "In 200 yard, turn right!".  But there's a HEDGE over there. Despite all odds, I found myself meeting up with paved roads after several miles.  Nothing like a bit of fun in the desert.

Desert off-roading

Long sections of never-ending straight road always seem to amaze me, so here is some of St. 371.

Rt. 371 S near...oh sorry, there aren't any towns here.

I caught some nice views off to the left of Mt Taylor, at 11,306' as I was heading south toward Grants, NM.

Mt Taylor, 11,306'

I spent far too long in Grants looking for a place that had some internet where I could browse free campsites roughly in the area.  I think this is part of the GPS humor, where the addresses stored in the database are slightly off, so you just can't see your destination when it says you've arrived.  Eventually, I was able to locate the library and use the magic of the internet.  I found a place with good reviews from other campers in Pie Town, NM, a 100 mile drive south.  Since I had left for De-Na-Zin and Bisti early in the morning, I still had enough time to make the drive in daylight.

Rt. 117 south from Grants brought me through the land of El Malpais National Monument.  The road follows an escarpment for many miles. This term was new to me, but basically what it is is the steep cliff-like boundary between two relatively level plains of differing elevations.  This is what you see in this part of El Malpais.  I was passing through right after some heavy rain has gone through, so that made the air smell really good as well.

Near a place called "the Narrows" on this road, I stopped at La Ventana Natural Arch.  Arches are always impressive, though I have a feeling I will have my mind blown away when I go to visit Arches National Park. Even so, this one was pretty neat, even from a distance.

La Ventana Natural Arch

I got some more time next to the escarpment before the road headed west to cross the plains.  The Rain clouds were clearing up, and I was having one of the best evening drives I've had on the trip so far.

After a long and straight drive along US-60, I arrived in the small town of Pie Town, NM.  I highly recommend this place for camping if you need a place in the area.  There is highly any demand for it, so it's very empty - I saw one other person camping.  Level sites with lots of ponderosa pine around to make it feel like you have your own little spot.

Another successful day in New Mexico added 474 miles to my total.  It sounds like a lot, but it wasn't horribly long because the roads are straight and fast for a lot of the way.  The grand total as of day 14 is.....4136!

EDIT: For those interested, I took a short 360 video in the Bisti Wilderness.