Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, Wilderness area in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a protected area in San Juan County, New Mexico, spanning roughly 45,000 acres of badlands formed from layered rock. The terrain displays towers, pillars, and mushroom-shaped hoodoos created by erosion of sandstone, shale, siltstone, and fossilized coal seams.

The area gained protection in 1984 and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The rock layers date back 70 million years to a time when swamps and rivers moved across the basin.

Bisti comes from the Navajo Bistahí, "among the adobe formations"; De-Na-Zin from Dééł Náázíní, "Standing Crane", a bird depicted in petroglyphs found south of the wilderness. The area lies on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, a designated New Mexico Scenic Byway, and holds many Chacoan sites and part of the prehistoric Great North Road linking Chaco Anasazi sites in the San Juan Basin.

The wilderness is reached via unpaved roads south of Farmington; a vehicle with clearance makes the approach easier. There are no marked trails, so visitors should be ready to navigate with map and GPS and carry enough water.

The sediments have yielded over 200 species of plant and animal fossils, including the so-called Bisti Beast, a tyrannosaur skeleton from 1997. Photographers often arrive at dawn or dusk when the rock colors appear more intense.