De-Na-Zin

In northwest New Mexico, adjacent to the Navajo Nation lies the Bisti Badlands in the De-Na-Zin wilderness. De-Na-Zin is the Navajo term for cranes. Few signs point to this remote area protected by the Bureau of Land Management, but after going through a fence near a parking lot, you hike across a featureless, barren plain with some red clay hills in the background.

No trails mark the way to the hoodoos, spires, capped rocks, petrified wood, and even features called alien eggs. After about a mile, you walk through some of the red hills and the dark lines of coal seams.

Soon, the odd, eroded features seem to grow out of the land.

Often the hoodoos and other features are formed when a harder rock erodes slower than the sandstone below.

Chance thought they were made for dramatic poses.

And one might’ve even been a dog itself.

One area was filled with groups of rounded, boulder-like rocks called alien eggs. Many look as if they’re ready to hatch what they’ve held for eons.

While the area now is barren, with only small bits of vegetation scattered about, there is evidence of the ancient forests that were once here. Many small bits of petrified wood are on the ground and occasionally long trucks lie on the ground.

After exploring around the badlands, it was time to head back around the red hills toward the car.

San Rafael Swell

Tucked between Canyonlands and Capitol Reef National Parks in south central Utah is the San Rafael Swell. The Swell is dome of sandstone, limestone and shale about 40 by 75 miles and has been carved and eroded with canyons, mesas and buttes. We camped near the trailhead for Little Wild Horse Canyon and hiked in before dark.

The wash that flows out of the canyons provides enough moisture to support some large cottonwood trees. The next morning we’d take another hike in Goblin Valley State Park that is behind the ridge seen in the distance in the image above. As the trail heads up into the swell, the canyon begins to narrow.

Eventually, the trail leads to the entrances for two slot canyons. Bell canyon breaks off to the left, and we went right to Wild Horse Canyon. If you have time, you could take either canyon to its end and loop over and return up the other for an eight mile hike.

The water has cut fantastic shapes and textures into the canyon walls. Though there’s a small bit of scrambling on some rocks, it is in no way a technical hike and you’re not going to get stuck with a boulder on your arm.

The trail gets narrower and walls get higher. The trail can be popular, but we had the evening walk all to ourselves.

Before getting too far up the canyon, we turned around to get back to camp before dark, especially since we’d need to get an early start for Goblin Valley State Park the next morning.

Before the sun rose, the waning moon, Venus and Jupiter peaked over the ridge in the east.

The sun soon followed and danced behind the figures in Goblin Valley.

The cold morning would warm up quickly but the snow still lay on the La Sal Mountains in the distance. The waves from the ancient sea bed seemed to crash around.

The valley was filled with sandstone eroded into fantastic shapes. This, too, can be a popular area, but our early start meant we had the place to explore on our own until we headed back and others began to hike among the goblins.

Chance found some of the shapes to be comfortable places to rest before we’d head back to car and explore some rough roads into and around the San Rafael Swell and other fantastic formations on our way toward Capitol Reef National Park.

Around Jordan Pond

Sorry for missing a couple weeks of posting while traveling, but here’s some images from one of the hikes at Acadia National Park in Maine. Jordan Pond is a glacially carved lake with a 3.5 mile loop trail around the shore. The trail starts at the south end, and we headed counter-clockwise as the sun was nearing the ridgeline on the west and spotlighting the changing colors on the eastern shore.

Jordan Pond color

Jordan Pond color

Go this way

Go this way

The trail on the east side of the lake is an easy, level crushed rock path. Lots of streamways are built on the path to allow water to run off the mountain side into the lake, but it had been dry enough that none of those streams were flowing.

Jordan Pond trail

Jordan Pond trail

As you approach the north end of the lake, a few spur trails head up to the Bubbles, a couple mountains overlooking that end of the lake, but it would be dark soon so we continued on around the lake. A couple larger streams enter the lake after flowing down the Bubbles, and idyllic bridges cross them. Can you spot one?

Jordan reflections

Jordan reflections

Here’s a closer view.

Jordan Pond trail-bridge autumn leaves 6922.jpg

While a little early for peak autumn color, some intense patches made for beautiful views.

Jordan Pond acadia national park fall color-6976.jpg

The return trail on the west side of the lake was quite different from the east side. First, you needed to scramble over some boulders.

scrambling

scrambling

Then a very long boardwalk kept you off the forest floor. We were fortunate that our sunset hike had very few other hikers since it would have been challenging to cross paths with people going the other way, especially with a dog on the leash. The Acadia experience was challenging with great crowds even mid-week with parking lots filling up quickly.

Jordan Pond boardwalk

Jordan Pond boardwalk

Acadia is a dog friendly park, and like a few other parks, offers a B.A.R.K. ranger program where your pet can earn a badge. The picture below is of the Acadia collar tag, and Chance getting a badge from a ranger at Saint Gaudens National Historic Site.

Many national park sites have understandable restrictions on dogs due to wildlife, safety or crowding, but many provide great opportunities. One of the best is nearby Indiana Dunes National Park that permits dogs on almost all trails, and has a B.A.R.K. ranger program. This weekend they are even offering a ranger led hike for dogs.

Rangers

Rangers

As we approached the end of the hike, you could spot Jordan Pond House that overlooks the southern end of the lake. Lots of people were gathering near the shore to watch the sunset. We tried to go back to the House the next morning for their famous tea, but the parking lot was full well before the opening.

Jordan Pond House

Jordan Pond House

We joined the folks lined up on the shore to view the fading dusk colors over the Bubbles rising above the north end of the Lake. A beautiful end to the hike.

Bubbles over Jordan Pond

Bubbles over Jordan Pond