Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, Wilderness area in San Juan County, United States
The landscape features unusual rock formations including hoodoos, spires, and pinnacles formed through weathering of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and coal deposits.
The area was established as a protected wilderness in 1984, encompassing 45,000 acres of badlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
The name combines Navajo words Bistahí meaning adobe formations and Dééł Náázíní referring to standing cranes depicted in local petroglyphs.
Visitors can access the wilderness through unpaved County Road 7500, located 40 miles south of Farmington, with hiking and photography as primary activities.
The region contains over 200 species of plant and animal fossils, including the Bisti Beast, a 30-foot tyrannosaur discovered in 1997.
Location: San Juan County
Inception: October 30, 1984
GPS coordinates: 36.30440,-108.11800
Latest update: May 27, 2025 07:01
The selection presents geological formations from basalt columns in Northern Ireland to salt flats in Bolivia. It includes glaciers, volcanoes, canyons, waterfalls, and coral reefs. These geological structures were shaped by natural forces such as erosion, tectonic movements, and volcanic activities over millions of years.
New Mexico combines natural formations and historical sites. The region includes caves, desert landscapes, volcanic areas, pueblo settlements, and military forts. The territory features geological structures, archaeological sites, hot springs, and museums.
Rock pillars and spires shaped by erosion stand as natural monuments across various locations worldwide. These geological structures, known as hoodoos, display different colors and shapes based on their mineral composition and environmental conditions. From the red rocks of Utah to the limestone formations of Turkey, these sites present geological formations created over millions of years through wind and water erosion. These formations develop through differential erosion, where softer rock layers erode faster than harder layers, leaving slender columns often capped with protective harder rock. Visitors find such structures in desert landscapes, canyons, and plateaus where conditions favor their formation and preservation. The color palette ranges from white to orange, red, and gray, depending on the minerals present such as iron oxide, limestone, or clay.
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