a visit to the out of this world in the Valley of Dreams in New Mexico
First, to reach these areas you will be driving in Navajo Indian lands, please behave accordingly. There is nothing stopping the locals from closing the roads if people show no respect for the area.
I hiked to the Valley of Dreams area from Farmington, New Mexico. Note: I drove to the area closest to the Valley of Dreams and then I hiked to the King of Wings.
From Farmington I drove south on NM371. I tool a left on CR7650 (dirt, but well maintained road). The coordinates for the intersection are N 36 09 44 S 108 09 05. I took that road for 7.9 miles, very plesant, wide road (another story when it rains). Then made a right on CR7870. I think I remember that the sign didn’t mention anything about Valley of Dreams, so I made sure I measured 7.9 miles to make sure I picked the correct road. In the image below that is marked with a blue “X”. It is a T intersection. There, another 7.6 miles on that road until I parked the car. I took an SUV and parked at N 36 07 27 W 108 58 48, on the side of the road. Now, there is a dirt road that you can take further, but I deemed it was not worth driving on it. I instead hiked on that dirt road (left from the main road). The dirt road end at N 36 08 05 W 108 58 08. By end I mean that you need to abandon the dirt road to your left and enter the wilderness.
The image below shows the Google Earth path from the dirt road to the Valley of Dream area itself (the path in red).
There are no trails at all, not even social trails. I researched the locations by googling GPS coordinates and then used Google Earth to find paths. The dirt roads where I drove were all well maintained and that applies to all the roads that I used to visit other areas in the Bisti Wilderness.
The location of the Alien Throne rock formation is N 36.142258 W -107.975564. Please explore the hell of that area, there is a lot as you can see in the image below. There are weird rock formation all over the place.
The magnificent Alien Throne ……
So many rock formation, explore. I was lucky it snowed a bit the night before, which put a good contrast for the pictures, but it was cold as hell.
I hiked to the King of Wings instead of turning around and driving to it. It is just a two mile hike on level ground, I just ducked under one fence and bonus, I ran into these wild horses:
The King of Wings is all that is advertised, the biggest wing in the Bisti Wilderness. You have to climb a 100 yard slope and the rock formation is exposed on all sides to the wind (and it was a windy day). I looked around and I didn’t see any other rock formations that I was interested in; probably there is a couple but it was so windy and cold that I wasn’t inclined to explore. On top of that, I went to the King of Wings first and then to the Valley of Dreams, so I know there was going to be quite a bit to explore in there.
Enjoy the pics ..
