Travelogues
2015 New Mexico & Utah Trip

Wednesday, October 7

Back to Bisti

I didn't make it up early enough to drive out to Bisti this morning, but gorgeous clouds demanded an afternoon trip. I couldn't even tell it rained on the roads into Bisti. I probably could have gone out yesterday.

I drove south on Highway 371, which has now become a very familiar 36-mile drive. After about 15 miles, I noticed the clouds were getting thicker and looking a little threatening. It seemed the farther south I drove, the more threatening the weather looked. When I reached the parking lot, I was re-assured to see three other cars there. There were also two cars in the parking area just up the road.

The light wasn't very good as the sun filtered through the clouds or intermittently peered through the gaps in the clouds as I started hiking up the wash. I made great time to the Hoodoos 3Google Earth area, but I couldn't pass up photographing my favorite features in the area. I felt like I had the time to make this a leisurely walk, so I tried some new angles on the hoodoos. The clouds added another dynamic, so even though I had shot there 4 other times, it was still "new."

Bisti Hoodoo Bisti Hoodoos

I hiked beyond the wash leading toward the Egg Factory to search for Alien Woman and Elegant Hoodoo. I had no problem finding Elegant Hoodoo (not sure what's so elegant about it), but I'm not sure I found Alien Woman. Even with GPS coordinates, I'm sometimes not sure that I've found the right hoodoo. I dropped over the ridge into Bowling Ball Wash. From there I started hiking toward the Bisti Window Arch when I saw the area around the Perched LogGoogle Earth light up. That was a high-priority shot, so I switched directions in hopes of getting there before the good light disappeared.

I got about 10 minutes of warm light before the sun started its game of peek-a-boo through the clouds. The lighting seemed to change minute-by-minute. For the next hour, I shot the Perched Log area and the next wash to the south. The entire area was full of petrified logs. I found three new logs partially buried along the wash as I wandered around. I think this is my favorite area in Bisti so far. There are light-colored hoodoos everywhere with black layered hills or brick-red cliffs behind them. Having such an open area makes it easy to enjoy an afternoon stroll to check out all the cool formations.

Red Rock Gulch Petrified Log Red Rock Gulch
Red Rock Gulch Petrified Log Red Rock Gulch
Bisti Hoodoos Bisti Wilderness Statuary Canyon
Perched Log Bisti Badlands Statuary Canyon

In the midst of my revelry, a clap of thunder brought me back to reality. There was Egg Factory a threatening black cloud just north and east of me that promised a thunderstorm. It looked like it would be a very localized storm, so I wasn't panicky or anything. I finished shooting where I was and hiked over to the Egg Factory. Although the lighting wasn't very good, the storm clouds made some dramatic shots. When I checked the western sky, it looked like the sun would eventually break through a gap in the clouds shortly before sunset. I considered waiting it out, when I began smelling rain. That was it. I was heading back to the Explorer. I walked through the gap between the hills "protecting" the egg factory. For the second time in Bisti, I ran into hikers wandering around in the main wash. I asked them if they were looking for anything special. They said they were looking for the Cracked Eggs, so I pointed out the gap that would drop them into the wash. They were totally unconcerned about the storm.

When I reached the Hoodoos 3 area, I ran into two ladies hiking up the wash. They asked me if I had found the Egg Factory. I said yes, that it was about 1/2 mile farther and gave them approximate directions. Despite the storm clouds, lightening, and huge drops of rain starting to fall, they continued hiking into the storm. I got out my rain jacket, put my camera in my pack, and stepped up the pace to stay ahead of the storm. In 10 minutes, the rain stopped and the storm seemed to stall over the Hoodoos 3 area. I got out my iPhone and tried using my lightening app to try to capture some of the lightening strikes. I had no luck at all. There were plenty of strikes, but none of them triggered the iPhone camera. My battery life may have been too low to make it work.

When I got back to the Explorer and started putting everything away, I looked up and saw the whole wash light up. The sun had fought its way through the clouds just before it set for the day. The lighting was incredible! I grabbed my camera and ran back to the fence that marks the boundary of the wilderness to eliminate it from the images. Then I saw the rainbow on the right side of the wash. Of course, I had the wrong lens. I hustled back to the Explorer, grabbed my tripod and my 16-35 zoom lens and tried again. And then, the rainbow arched completely across the sky. Not even the 16-35 zoom could capture that, so it was back to the Explorer to get the 10-22. But by the time I got the 10-22 on the camera and the polarizer mounted, the light show was over.

Rainbow

While I was packing up, the two groups of hikers returned. I was relieved that they didn't have any issues with the storm. Bisti has no place to hide from lightening. It is flat with no trees.

After the sun set in the west, the day's final light streamed in from the north where it succombed to the dark clouds hanging over the wash. The final 30 - 40 minutes of the day turned out to be the most amazing.

Final Light

The rainbow was a fitting end to hiking at Bisti. I could easily spend a month hiking around Bisti. We didn't even get to Ah-shi-sle-pah, and that is supposed to be as good or better than Bisti. I hope to have the opportunity to check out Ah-shi-sle-pah while we can still do all the hiking. We've been averaging about 6 miles per hike, so I've hiked about 30 miles around Bisti on this trip, and that barely scratched the surface.