FINDING THE TRAILHEAD AND WHAT TO EXPECT THERE
So far, I have uploaded one hike that starts at the "Bisti" entrance of the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness and hits many of the interesting features.
To reach the main parking lot for Bisti, drive south on New Mexico Route 371 from Farmington, New Mexico. The north end of Rte. 371 intersects the Route 64 bypass about 1/4 mile from San Juan Regional Medical Center. Travel south on Rte. 371 about 37 miles. The miles are marked and descend from 106. Just after Mile Marker 71, there is a large brown highway sign for Bisti WIlderness Area. Turn left onto the access road and continue about 1.9 miles until a T-intersection, marked by a smaller brown sign. Turn left at the T (away from the gas well pond) and continue 0.9 miles, mostly downhill, to parking. If you cross the culvert over the stream from the gas well, you have gone too far.
There is a gravel parking lot on the right just before that culvert. One side is marked by a wire fence. Nothing really tells you that you have found the right place. If you look beyond the end of the lot, you can see, as in the photo above, a blank sign kiosk (bare plywood behind plexiglass under a little mini-roof) with a metal box nearby for the sign-in book. The lone gate in the metal fence is marked by six 4-foot wooden posts of almost telephone-pole thickness, set close together. More than one person has told me that they went home because they weren't sure they had found the right place. There are no port-a-potties, no emergency phone, nothing.
None of the cool sights are visible from the parking lot, either. The picture above shows the flat section of wash that will confront you when you first arrive. It is understandable that people park, look at this emptiness, and then drive away without getting out of their vehicles. But they are missing a lot.
To reach the main parking lot for Bisti, drive south on New Mexico Route 371 from Farmington, New Mexico. The north end of Rte. 371 intersects the Route 64 bypass about 1/4 mile from San Juan Regional Medical Center. Travel south on Rte. 371 about 37 miles. The miles are marked and descend from 106. Just after Mile Marker 71, there is a large brown highway sign for Bisti WIlderness Area. Turn left onto the access road and continue about 1.9 miles until a T-intersection, marked by a smaller brown sign. Turn left at the T (away from the gas well pond) and continue 0.9 miles, mostly downhill, to parking. If you cross the culvert over the stream from the gas well, you have gone too far.
There is a gravel parking lot on the right just before that culvert. One side is marked by a wire fence. Nothing really tells you that you have found the right place. If you look beyond the end of the lot, you can see, as in the photo above, a blank sign kiosk (bare plywood behind plexiglass under a little mini-roof) with a metal box nearby for the sign-in book. The lone gate in the metal fence is marked by six 4-foot wooden posts of almost telephone-pole thickness, set close together. More than one person has told me that they went home because they weren't sure they had found the right place. There are no port-a-potties, no emergency phone, nothing.
None of the cool sights are visible from the parking lot, either. The picture above shows the flat section of wash that will confront you when you first arrive. It is understandable that people park, look at this emptiness, and then drive away without getting out of their vehicles. But they are missing a lot.
