- Where
- San Juan Basin, north-west New Mexico
about 36 miles south of Farmington - Coordinates
- 36.3044° N
108.1181° W - Area
- About 45,000 acres
wilderness since 1984 - Run by
- Bureau of Land Management
three private Navajo parcels inside - Trails and water
- No marked trails; no water
(Bureau of Land Management) - Collecting
- Petrified wood and fossils stay
(Bureau of Land Management) - Best visited
- Spring and autumn
A dry streambed was the only road, so I followed it into a crowd of grey and rust-coloured mounds, wrinkled like the knees of elephants. On top of them sat flat brown stones on thin necks of clay, all leaning a little, as if listening. Underfoot lay chips of a tree that had turned to stone. Nothing moved except one raven, and the shadows.
The short answer
The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is about 45,000 acres of steeply eroded badlands in San Juan County, in north-west New Mexico, designated in 1984 and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, with three parcels of private Navajo land inside its boundaries; the John D. Dingell Jr. Act of March 2019 added about 2,250 acres, according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia gives the meaning of its names from Navajo: Bisti, from Bistahí, “among the adobe formations”, and De-Na-Zin, from Dééł Náázíní, “standing crane”, after petroglyphs of cranes found south of the wilderness. The BLM describes hiking here as exploring unmarked routes across clay hills and sandstone outcrops, from informal and rough trails near the parking areas, and it welcomes off-trail walking.
Why it's worth knowing
The rocks keep a record of an ending. Wikipedia describes the badlands as exposing the longest, most complete and most richly fossiliferous sequence of beds spanning the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary in any single sedimentary basin in the world, the boundary that marks the extinction of the dinosaurs. The oldest beds were laid down after the inland sea made its final retreat from the area, about 74 million years ago, as swamps, flood plains and river channels. Some two hundred species of fossil plants and animals have been identified in the two oldest formations, most of them inside the wilderness, Wikipedia records, from petrified logs and leaf impressions to hadrosaurs and horned dinosaurs. The younger beds above the boundary hold the fossils of the small mammals that came after.
The shapes are younger. Hoodoos formed, Wikipedia explains, where resistant rock protected the softer rock beneath it, leaving pinnacles under stone caps. Where the old coal seams caught fire, Wikipedia adds, they baked the rock into a hard red stone known as clinker, or red dog.
The field notes
Leave the stone trees lying
The petrified wood is everywhere, in chips and in whole trunks with their rings showing, and the BLM’s position is plain: collecting petrified wood is prohibited by the wilderness management plan, and disturbing or collecting vertebrate fossils requires a research permit. Campfires are forbidden in the wilderness, by Wikipedia’s account. The land’s other uses are older than the wilderness: three parcels inside its boundaries are Navajo land held privately, and the names on the map are Navajo names. William Friedkin filmed the climax of Sorcerer (1977) here, Wikipedia records.
Finding your way back
This is the practical part, and it matters. There are no marked trails and few landmarks that look different from a distance. Farmington’s visitor bureau recommends carrying a GPS unit or a compass, and notes that the main wash near the parking area can be followed west to find the way back. There is little or no shade. The BLM says there is no potable water and that visitors must bring their own, and it describes spring and autumn as the most comfortable seasons. Rain changes everything: the BLM warns that the unpaved roads may become slippery or impassable after rain or snow, and Farmington’s bureau warns of flash floods in the normally dry washes. Walk out with a plan, a map and more time than you need.
Red and grey badlands rolling to a flat horizon, February 2010.
Photograph: Bureau of Land Management · Public domain (PD-USGov, Bureau of Land Management)
A flat stone cap balanced on a fluted clay pillar, March 2025.
Photograph: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
A capped hoodoo among rabbitbrush in the wilderness's eastern unit, October 2020.
Photograph: Alexander Hatley · Bisti-De-Na-Zin Wilderness - East 10 · CC BY 2.0
A stump of petrified wood, its growth rings still visible, lying on the badland, February 2010.
Photograph: Bureau of Land Management (Bob Wick) · Public domain (PD-USGov, Bureau of Land Management)
- Fill every bottle you own before you leave town. Out here, there is nowhere to fill them again.
- Before you leave the car, turn round and learn the shape of the skyline behind it. Nobody is going to give you another signpost.
- Leave every chip of stone tree where it lies. I copied each one onto the list instead, which is how a list gets heavy.
- Part of this land is somebody’s own. Where a fence or a house appears, take it as the end of your walk, not the start of a new one.
- Be there for the hour before sunset, when the mounds change colour, and be back at the car before the colour goes.
A petrified log. The trunk of a tree from the forests and swamps that grew on this ground tens of millions of years ago, turned to stone and uncovered again by the rain, lying on the grey clay with its growth rings still showing in its broken end. The Bureau of Land Management’s wilderness plan prohibits collecting petrified wood here, so it stays exactly where it lies, and so do the rust-coloured chips scattered round it.
Tally, in the marginSitting beside it, I kept wishing it would cast a little shade. Some while later I understood that it had traded shade for something that lasts.
Getting there
How to get there. Farmington is the nearest town. The BLM gives the route to the Bisti trailhead as about 36 miles south of Farmington on NM-371, then a short run on unpaved roads to the Bisti access parking area; it recommends a high-clearance vehicle. From the car park, Farmington’s visitor bureau says, most of the hoodoo formations are one to four miles away on foot, across open badland with no trail to follow.
When to go. Spring and autumn, by the BLM’s account. Summer days are hot and there is no shade; summer storms bring flash floods to the washes, and rain or snow can close the roads.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing to book: Farmington’s visitor bureau says a BLM permit is needed only for commercial filming or photography. Bring all your water, sun protection, a charged GPS or a map and compass, and the habit of looking back at the skyline as you walk. Check the weather and the state of the road before leaving Farmington, tell someone your plan, and leave the petrified wood and fossils where they lie.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. The hazards are the place’s own: heat with no shade, no water, no marked trails, flash floods in the washes, and roads that wet weather can close.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness?
The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is in San Juan County, north-west New Mexico, about 36 miles south of Farmington on NM-371, according to the Bureau of Land Management, which manages its 45,000 acres of badlands.
What does Bisti mean?
Wikipedia gives Bisti as coming from the Navajo Bistahí, meaning “among the adobe formations”, and De-Na-Zin from the Navajo Dééł Náázíní, “standing crane”, after petroglyphs of cranes found south of the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness in New Mexico.
Are there trails in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness?
No marked ones. The Bureau of Land Management describes hiking in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness as exploring unmarked routes across clay hills and sandstone outcrops, with only informal, rough trails leading from the parking areas, and it welcomes off-trail walking.
Can you take petrified wood from Bisti?
No. The Bureau of Land Management says collecting petrified wood in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is prohibited by its wilderness management plan, and that disturbing or collecting vertebrate fossils there requires a research permit.
How old are the rocks in the Bisti Badlands?
The oldest beds in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness were laid down after an inland sea retreated about 74 million years ago, and the sequence runs across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, when the dinosaurs died out. Wikipedia describes it as the most complete such sequence in any single sedimentary basin.
Do you need a permit to visit Bisti?
Not for a day visit. Farmington’s visitor bureau says a permit from the Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office is required only for commercial filming or photography in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness.
When is the best time to visit the Bisti Badlands?
Spring and autumn, according to the Bureau of Land Management. The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness has little or no shade and no water, summer storms can flood its washes, and the BLM warns that its unpaved access roads may become impassable after rain or snow.
How do you avoid getting lost in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness?
Carry a GPS unit or a compass and map, as Farmington’s visitor bureau recommends: the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness has no marked trails and few distinct landmarks. The bureau notes that the main wash near the parking area can be followed west to return to it.