April 19, 2022: Bisti Badlands and the Hogan

 

Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep movin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
 Bruce Springsteen

      Today, we left our comfy airbnb and headed toward the Bisti Badlands.

    This allowed us to cross a large section of the Navajo reservation in which there is a massive agriculture presence on vast mesas that have no water and sit at over 5000 feet. There are huge irrigation systems for growing beans/corn and a flour mills and they're all out in the literal middle of nowhere. 

The Navajo have major irrigation and agricultural products across northern New Mexico. We drove past these for many miles.

    

    Our destination today was the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area. Wilderness area is an understatement! The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a rolling landscape of badlands which offers some of the most unusual scenery found in the Four Corners Region. Time and natural elements have etched a fantasy world of strange rock formations made of interbedded sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal, and silt. The weathering of the sandstone forms hoodoos - weathered rock in the form of pinnacles, spires, cap rocks, and other unusual forms. Fossils occur in this sedimentary landform. Translated from the Navajo language, Bisti (Bis-tie) means "a large area of shale hills." De-Na-Zin (Deh-nah-zin) takes its name from the Navajo words for "cranes." Some of the most amazing dinosaur finds in North America have occurred in this region. 

Badlands (the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness) offers one of the closest approximations of an unknown alien world as can be found right here on Earth.
The area takes its name not only from the striking stone formations that litter the landscape, but the desolation of the area. It's literally nowhere. Archeologically, the area was once a the shores of an ancient sea. 

Perspectives on the size of the formation which vary quite a bit from underfoot to several hundred feet high.

 It was once an ancient riverine delta on the shores of an ancient sea, somewhere 70 million years ago. As the time passes the water gradually receded, lush foliage grew along the numerous riverbanks and several prehistoric animals wandered the area.

Therefore, when the water disappeared completely. It left behind layers of jumbled sandstone, shale, mudstone, and coal. However, an abundance of the coal burned away in ancient fires that lasted centuries. Moreover, erosion then formed the characteristic features of the contemporary landscape of the Bisti Wilderness.

The grey and black areas and shards of petrified wood are punctuated by oxidized formations of red and pink.

   There's a lot of petrified wood here lying virtually everywhere.

Paul holds petrified wood in his hand.

And yet it is easily breakable. 

   This was a beautiful area although we explored it and our way back to civilization on dirt and hard pack bumpy roads in a 30mph wind. 

Our thirty mile trek back to sorta kinda civilization in dust and among a legion of oil and gas wells for whom these roads exist. Be prepared. It's bumpy!

We still can't believe that on the side of the road, totally anticipated, we saw these beautiful and somewhat rare migrating adult white face ibis. 

    After thirty miles of bumps (and maybe a little anxiety), we reached HWY 550 and shortly before our destination for the night, The Hogan on a mission site for Christ For All Nations, established to support those of the Navajo culture who experience poverty and hunger in the region. They have a small but very cozy and comfy hogan out in the middle of the hoodoos and mule deer and we are lucky to stay here for the night. 

The Hogan. Most of the day, we were in 30mph winds and as you see, the flag is waving straight out. 

Sunset on the road to the Hogan.

Cracked egg formation. These are unique to these parts. 

We hiked over the hilltop to see the hoodoos above our hogan. 

The Christ for All Nations complex on which we are staying . Most everything is closed right now so we pretty much have the place to ourselves. 

  We had a very nice day from a wildlife perspective. We didn't see a lot of it, but we were happy with what we did see. Why not? Who gets to see this everyday? We are beyond grateful.

The downy woodpecker joined us on the mesa and entertained us with his song, then disappeared into a hole in a tree.

We loved watching the mule deer (about eight in number)  run away from us and then jump high over a fence. Beautiful animals. 

Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful…

----Navajo Prayer

This food is the gift of the whole universe,
May I be worthy to receive it.
May the energy in this food,
Give me the strength,
To transform my unwholesome qualities
into wholesome ones.
I am grateful for this food,
May I realize the Path of Awakening,
For the sake of all beings.
are present in the gift of this food.
Let us receive it in love
and gratitude...
among living beings of every kind
who are hungry or homeless,
sick or injured,
or suffering in any way.

Each morsel is a sacrifice of life,

The joys and pains of all beings

And in mindfulness of our sisters and brothers

-- Buddhist Meal Time Prayer

Paul's Ponderings: Another great day out in New Mexico, where you realize how empty a lot of the western US really is!   Very windy today in general, which is not unusual....the Bisti bandlands were a big blast of sand in the face on our return walk in the amazing scenery we were surrounded by.....but still an amazing experience.   The big surprise was the Ibis's we saw randomly driving out; what a surprise and even more so after we figured out they were migrating and seen here only randomly.  Another woodpecker variety awaited us near Counselor, NM, but also more wind and mule deer jumping over fences.   

We drove about 25 miles on classic New Mexico dirt and slightly paved roads to get to our lodging for the night.   We saw almost no other human existence besides oil/gas wells during this time.    

We're in a Hogan at a mission development that was started in the 80s tonight; despite the rural setting, it's quite nice and very dark here tonight -- looking for meteors late at night.   

April 18,2022: Belated 10th Anniversary Tour (thanks Covid) to Northern New Mexico. FIRST STOP FARMINGTON

 “When I got to New Mexico that was mine. As soon as I saw it that was my country. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It’s something that’s in the air – it’s different. The sky is different, the wind is different.”  ---Georgia O'Keefe

This story really begins 8 or 9 years ago when we were driving to Taos and we passed a sign that said, Ojo Caliente. Paul didn't speak much Spanish at the time beyond Gracias and enchilada, so I told him it meant "warm eye." We looked it up and found that it was a natural hot springs with a spa. We kept passing the sign and eventually resolved to go there, but in winter or early spring, as New Mexico gets a bit hot for warm baths later in the year. Fast forward to February 2019, shortly before the pandemic put travel to a halt. We made our reservations, packed our bags, and set off from Albuquerque late in the afternoon to see and experience Ojo Caliente...only to encounter a humdinger of a snowstorm that prevented our progress any further than Santa Fe, and that only with difficulty. The next day, the main highway was cleared of snow, but secondary roads were not. We went South instead. 

We missed it then. And now that travel is opening up, we thought Ojo Caliente deserved a second attempt. And as long as we were in the area, the Four Corners area has some pretty fascinating features worth tapping into. 

The trip to the area in itself is an interesting journey into history and geography. Highway 550 passes numerous historical spots on the way to our goal of Farmington as a base: Coronado and Jemez Historic sites, the Navajo reservation and many small nondescript towns there since the 1800s or even longer. 

The journey takes place at 5000+ feet and passes through multicolored mesas and washes. Much of it is dry and scrubby and gets only 3-4 inches of rain per year. 

Lake Farmington

    On our way in to our Airbnb casita rental, we decided to take a nice walk and circumnavigate Lake Farmington, a 250 acre lake serving as recreation for quite a few families this Easter. It's a popular spot for fishing, kayaking and picnicking. The path was just about 4 miles total and didn't have any extremes of elevation, but it was quite pretty. Wildlife was confined to snakes, ducks and children going nuts next to the water :) 

     From here, we went to our Airbnb. It's small but comfortable and all we need when most of our time will be spent outdoors exploring. 

I'm a sucker for an Airbnb with a GAS stove and attached laundry!

     We got a good night's sleep and then we were off to make the most of TAX DAY and also International Juggling Day!

     We started at Aztec Ruins National Monument.

     The name is a misnomer, as there were NO AZTEC ruins here. But they were built by ancient Puebloan peoples between the 12th and 13th centuries. They were occupied for about 200 years and then the ancient peoples, who believed they exited from the navel of the earth to perform a journey, continued their pilgrimage onward. Much of this ancient pueblo was restored by the work of archeologist, Earl Morris shortly after the turn of the 20th century. The park has a 0.5 mile paved path around partially excavated structures built by a conglomeration of Native American nations and that probably served commercial, religious and ceremonial purposes.

A look at the site which houses numerous buildings made of wood and stone. Wood was carried for more than 20 miles and stones were quarried from about 3-5 miles away by Puebloan peoples without any modern transport.

A look at the structures, the plaza and the Great Kiva (more on that later.)

There was internal ventilation and connecting doors. There were many rooms and although and they weren't believed to originally be intended as residences, it appears they were eventually used as living space. 

A look at the beautiful stone work. There is a ribbon of green stones that run at a single level of the building. Roof support is via logs and dendrochronology has been used to date the structures. 

    It's hard to get a photo that does this ancient place justice. Morris and archeologists reconstructed the Great Kiva they found on the grounds in the center of the plaza and it gives insight into the ceremonial lives of the ancient Puebloans whose ancestors still believe the Aztec Ruins are a sacred place. They say the ancients did NOT desert the structures and that they still move among them.

The reconstructed Great Kiva. You can see the plaza beyond and some of the other buildings.

Entrance to the Kiva. Morris tried to reproduce the paint colors he saw on the premises.

The inside of the Kiva. There is a place for a ceremonial fire. 

The roof is well constructed with ventilation. 

This area which is on a dais above the kiva floor has undetermined purpose.

     The modern tribes of Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Zia and Navajo are descendants of the Puebloan ancestors. They still hold ceremonies here. The site was abandoned by all but the spirits of these people about 900 years ago for unknown reasons---possibly drought, as they farmed the land at the nearby Animas River. There is great information at the Visitor Center as well as some artifacts from the site, helpful rangers, a short film about the site, souvenirs and brochures. The visitor center is the former home of archeologist, Earl Morris.

This is one of a very nice pottery exhibits in the visitor center.

We had fun watching prairie dogs on the grounds. 

Yep. The sky was very Georgia O'Keefe above the Aztec Ruins.

There is a walk from the Visitor Center across the Animas River. At one time you could walk into the town of Aztec, but at the moment, they are improving the walkway and the downtown isn't accessible. 

     For birdwatchers, we did get to see and hear white-crowned sparrows flitting about the juniper and scrubs. 

    From here, what else but a trip to The Four Corners Monument, the only location in the USA where four states come together in one spot. It is located on the Navajo nation and operated by Native Americans. The entrance fee is $5 per person. There's not much there, but there are some small food stands and souvenir booths in addition to the novelty of this unique geographic phenomenon and its marker. There are some hiking trails for the more adventurous amongst us!

Looking off into Utah. The Horse Tail hiking trail bisects this photo.

The view into Colorado

Paul standing pretty much in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona at the same time. 

The entrance to Four Corners Monument

     

     On the way to the monument, you can't help but notice all the mesas in different colors and the dips and washes, native American villages and horses roaming around the brush. You also can't miss Shiprock. There is a town of the same name, but the rock itself rises stark out of an even starker landscape and attracts the eye for many miles. 

Shiprock rises out of the landscape like a cathedral or a fairy castle. It's hard to keep your eyes off of it.

     Our last act of a long but fun and interesting day was a walk along the Animas river. We saw many duck species, Canada goose and an All Wars Veteran's Memorial. The locals use it for recreation: walks, biking and picnics. 

Paul on a bridge across the Animas River. Three Rivers meet in Farmington: Animas, LaPlata and the San Juan.

Duck prints.

The Animas River at nearly sunset.

   There is an oil well in the Animas River recreation park. We learned while driving and from this park exhibit that this area of New Mexico is very rich in oil and gas fields with over 110,000 wells currently in service. 

    If you are traveling this way, we recommend a stop in Farmington, particularly the Aztec Ruins. And for great New Mexico cuisine, the Chili Pod downtown is totally worth your time. 

"Chili is not so much food as a state of mind. Addictions to it are formed early in life and the victims never recover." -------Margaret Cousins

Paul's Ponderings:  Fantastic day out in New Mexico.  Despite having spent tons of time out here over the past 20+ years, I've never been to Farmington or these ruins near here.   The weather today was incredible, starting cool and ending very warm. (From 38 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit!) The Puebloan ruins are amazing, particularly the Grand Kiva....the photos don't do it justice and we had it to ourselves, which was really great.  We ate lunch and dinner both at the Chili Pod, which was outstanding Mexican food.....superb red and green sauce and wonderful fresh food.  We had some lovely walks in the area.....so basically hard to beat this day.   Much more to come.