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| Solo on a Foreign Planet, NM | |
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| | Solo on a Foreign Planet, NM | | | |
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Solo on a Foreign Planet, NM
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| Hiking | 9.97 Miles |
325 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.97 Miles | 15 Hrs 33 Mns | | 2.11 mph |
| 325 ft AEG | 10 Hrs 50 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | | Been dreaming of visiting this Badland since being at Chaco a few years ago. This was the most rewarding 6+ hour drive I have ever made! I made it to the western side of this BLM wilderness by 230pm Sunday. I left from Flagstaff and drove north on N.M. hwy 371 shortly after leaving Gallup. I arrived to find some other campers/hikers/photogs, D.J. from Holland told me where even more magnificent hoodoos were on Navajo Land close by. D.J. gave me a warm Fat Tire and winced when I started drinking it warm. I guess he thought I would put it in my cooler, thought wrong. My Dutch buddy left the parking lot for a hotel room in Farmington and I began to pack my bag preparing to stay overnight in the Wilderness. I then met Andrew who walked along side me for a bit. He was decked out with lenses and a Nikon or two. As the sun was setting we both meandered through the otherwise empty ancient swampscape. He paused at the Egg Hatchery waiting for the golden hour. I continued on in suspended disbelief at all I was witnessing. Petrofungus of every imaginable form and dimension decayed on all sides. Beds of clay topped with harder minerals eroding into the most alien landscape i have ever been in beguiled and amused me. It was getting darker and the hoodoos that towered high above the valley floor and the ones that stood at my shoulder height were casting long shadows increasing the awesome weirdness of this place. I began to look for a spot out of the wind but with a commanding view of the night sky. I set up my tent and explored for another hour or so before dinner and bed. This was my first solo backpack after hundreds of nights outdoors with at least one other or truck camping. I had the best night of sleep I could remember. The day had a high of 88 and it probably dipped into the 40s by 3-4am. I awoke a few times and saw the Milky Way very clearly. I got up before dawn, made coffee and packed up knowing I had another 5 miles that would take me 4 or 5 hours because of the sustained exploring I was doing. Outcroppings that appeared far away pulled me like a magnet and wrapped its drainages around me like octopuses. I made my way back to the parking lot and prepared for the other locations. I found the Alien Throne with my new buddy Jim D.who was at the trailhead for my first destination on Navajo Land. The first place was BLM otherwise surrounded by the Reservation. Jim is a preacher from Junction Texas and a Veteran of the Vietnam war. After taking shrapnel in his head at the age of 17 he insisted the medic rip it out so he could get back to defending his "brothers". They would not do it so he did it himself and returned to the fighting after being bandaged. Jim and I both were like kids having the time of our lives in the Valley of Dreams. We returned to our cars and went to another location on the Res where the BLM manages a dirt parking lot at another Navajo site. Strange, but we could camp there in the parking lot, but not past it in the Res. It's a patchwork of Reservation Land and BLM out there. Saw more and more photo tours heading to the trailheads as the sun began to set. I am not a great photographer and don't go places to take pictures but this place is soon going to be overrun with all trails hikers and instagram selfies I fear. I will be back as often as I can, even looking at Jamestown N.M. cause they named it after me! |
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