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Badlands: Not So Bad


Aaron Zagrodnick
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Aaron Zagrodnick

@SteveSpidey introduces us to hiking and photographing the badlands and hoodoos of Northwestern New Mexico - check out the article at the links below:

The Hoodoos and Badlands of Northwestern New Mexico in Issue 31

Hiking the Hoodoos & Badlands of Northwestern New Mexico - Republished on the TrailGroove Blog

Hiking and Exploring Wilderness Study Area in Northwest New Mexico - King of Wings-2.JPG

Issue 31 Page 1

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Aaron Zagrodnick

Thanks again Steve, amazing scenery and really enjoyed learning about the area. Looks like a great place to explore!

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  • 11 months later...
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I made a return trip to the Ah-shi-sle-pah wilderness last month, this time to a different area. This particular formation is called the "Alien Throne"

DSC_7471.jpg

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A bit of a followup to http://www.trailgroove.com/issue31.html?autoflip=17

I made a return trip to the Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness in October 2017. I had been to this rough badland area before where we saw the ‘King of Wings’ formation, but his time we were headed farther west toward the ‘Valley of Dreams’ area where the ‘Alien Throne’ was located. After miles of driving mostly unmarked dirt roads across the boring plains, we came to a spot in the road where there was one other car, and my GPS showed us to be a little over a mile from the destination. We loaded our backpacks and headed off toward the badlands. There were a scattering of interesting hoodoos on the way, but the best was yet to come. It had been a week of clear, sunny days without a cloud in sight. This day, however, was different - there were some high wispy cirrus clouds moving in, promising a colorful sunset, and we were not disappointed (especially me!). We arrived at the eastern part of the ‘Valley of Dreams’ in late afternoon and it struck me as being some of the densest concentration of hoodoos and bizarrely-shaped rocks that I’ve ever seen! It was both a photographer’s dream and a photographer’s nightmare - so many shooting possibilities. We wandered around the hoodoos slowly making our way to the west. Once on the west side, we met a couple from Germany (and the people whose car we had seen earlier). They had been out both the evening before and that same morning. They were in the midst of a 25-day trip through the American west. They pointed out the ‘Alien Throne’ and we all proceeded to take piles of pictures of that hoodoo and the surrounding area. The sunset was spectacular as hoped for, and even after sunset the pictures show the otherworldly beauty of this spot. We set up camp nearby and had our coldest night of the trip (probably around 40 degrees). I got up early the next morning, which was once again mostly clear skies, but still shot a few excellent pics. Pictures #2, 4, and 5 are the Alien Throne. First picture is a Giant Mushroom - over 6 feet tall.

Ah-shi-sle-pah-6.jpg

Ah-shi-sle-pah-1.jpg

Ah-shi-sle-pah-2.jpg

Ah-shi-sle-pah-3.jpg

Ah-shi-sle-pah-4.jpg

Ah-shi-sle-pah-5.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
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It really does feel like you're on an alien planet... kinda spooky to camp out there with those hoodoos watching you all night!

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