Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is a smaller, quieter cousin of Bisti, in the badlands north of Nageezi. It has the same draws: rolling hills, colorful sandstone hoodoos, and fossils eroding out of the ground, but far fewer visitors. If Bisti feels remote, this place is somehow emptier still.

What to Do

There are no trails and no official routes. You cross the badlands on foot, picking a line between hoodoo clusters and walk. Vertebrate fossils are common enough that BLM signage warns against disturbing or collecting them without a research permit. Photography is the main draw, especially the layered mudstone colors and isolated hoodoo spires that catch light well.

How Much Time to Spend

Give yourself at least a couple of hours. The lack of landmarks, combined with genuinely rough terrain, makes route-finding slow, and it’s easy to spend two or three hours just working your way into the badlands and back.

Getting There

From Farmington, drive south on US-550 about 34 miles to Nageezi, then turn west onto NM-57 and continue 13.5 miles to the BLM parking area at the wilderness boundary. Portions of NM-57 are unpaved and can become impassable after rain or snow, so a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. There are no facilities, no cell service, and no marked trails inside the wilderness, so a GPS track and a lots of water are essential.

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah is best for people who’ve already done Bisti and thought “hey, that wasn’t deserted enough”, or for fossil nerds drawn to its Cretaceous badlands specifically.