The Wings
The weather was still supposed to be "iffy" today, so Carol decided to wait until tomorrow to do the hike to the Wings Section. She didn't want to get too worn out today to do moonrise at sunset tomorrow. I didn't want to miss another day of shooting, so I decided to drive down to Bisti in the morning before the afternoon monsoons hit. That meant the lighting wouldn't be very good for shooting, but it would give me a chance to explore some new areas.
I pulled into an empty parking lot for the Wings trailhead about 10:00. I had the northern part of the Bisti area all to myself for the entire day. Like the southern section, I had to hike 1 1/2 to 2 miles before reaching any of the best features. After passing The Derby and The Lighthouse formations, I decided to explore the side canyons before climbing the ridge toward The Pedestal. The first canyon was filled with light sandstone hoodoos with strangely shaped columns and balanced rocks on top. Every turn seemed to reveal another strange creation. Last year, we ran out of time to look for the Manta Ray formation, but I stumbled upon it while hiking in a small wash. It was certainly well-named.
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| Hoodoo Wall | Manta Ray |
When I finally climbed the ridge that led toward The Pedestal, I was once again drawn away from my planned route by "Saucerville." As I walked along a flat area between two ridges, it seemed like every sandstone column was topped by a balanced saucer. But every feature was unique in size and shape. There were so many concentrated in a small area that they lost their effect. My eyes didn't know which one to focus on, and much of the "Wow" effect was lost. The lighting was terrible today because I was there midday, but this would be a great area around sunset.
As I exited Saucerville, I saw The Wings just ahead. I skipped The Pedestal and climbed down into the wash below The Wings. I also found another wings-like area up another wash to the southeast. What I didn't find was Jetson's Pillar. I climbed every ridge in the area, but couldn't find it. It's possible the person who posted the location in Google Earth wasn't very careful about getting the location right. That's pretty common.
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| The Wings from Ridge | Wing | The Wings |
The next stop was The King's Men area with its ridge of light-colored columns topped with huge red blocks of sandstone. But my favorite feature was The Watchman. He stands on a ridge and seems to be surveying the series of washes and ridges around him.
By the time, I had hiked up and down every wash in the area looking for the Muppet Heads, I was starting to wear out. I climbed up over the ridge, crossed the plateau to The Pedestal, and then dropped down into the wash that would take me back to the Explorer. The hike back was more of a trudge, but at least it was level. And then I turned the corner to head west. The last mile was straight into a 20 MPH wind. Not what I needed.
When I turned the final corner and could see the Explorer, I noticed there was an old beat-up van parked directly behind me.
The whole parking lot was empty except for my Explorer and the van directly behind me. That seemed like it had the potential
for being a bad situation. Instead, three "kids" from Washington had a flat tire on the road and had backed
into the lot before the tire went totally flat. I drove one of them up a hill where she could get cell coverage to call
road service. It was 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, so I was a little concerned that they could get the tire fixed if it got much later.
A flat tire with no spare 30 miles from the nearest town isn't a great situation. The good thing was that it took my mind off
how tired I was. That reminder came later when I tried to get out of the Explorer at our campsite.
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