New Mexico is known, among so many other things, for its badlands. Here, you’ll find torturous and twisted hoodoos and rock formations, each more fantastical than the last. Some formations are small, and you have to stoop down to see it’s twisted shape. Others tower above you, and you need to step back to take it all in. The Bisti Wilderness is the most well-known of these formations, yet I prefer a different one: the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness. For here, you’ll find incredible Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah wonders, both large and small.
It’s challenging to know even where to begin in the badlands. There are no trails, nor any marked path. One merely sets off in “that direction” and keeps going until it is time to leave. I think this is such a marvelous way to explore! As each formation catches your eye, you head toward it to investigate it further. Once there, you’ll see another one, and then another, and before you know it, you have no idea at all which one to go to next because they all look so astonishing.
I can spend hours and days in the wilderness, and in fact, I have. And it appears that I never see the same formations twice.
The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness is in northern New Mexico, immediately to the north of Chaco Canyon National Historical Park. In fact, the northern border of Chaco is just across a dirt road from the southern edge of the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah. Interestingly, Chaco Canyon doesn’t have any significant hoodoos or rock formations. You can find a few here and there, but they are few and far between. Yet, once you’re in the badlands, the landscape transforms into a fairyland of wonder.
Usually, in my articles, I make you wait until I reveal the photographs that I am featuring. This time, however, we’ll get right to a photograph. After all, why wait? Seeing is believing, after all.
The afternoon was one of those rare times when I knew, I just knew, something magical would happen at sunset. The clouds were thick, but not too thick, and the upper-level winds were moving them about. In other words, the clouds had some life to them and showed promise of something interesting happening. I was, naturally, in the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah, exploring a section I had been to previously, but wanted to go back to for further examination.
The hoodoos here are smaller than in other places, but what they lacked in size they more than made for in numbers. There were hoodoos, quite literally, everywhere. It was difficult to walk in a straight line because there were so many. No, that’s not quite right. It was completely impossible to walk in a straight line at all. It was like weaving my way through a maze, but a maze where the walls were only about knee-height. Naturally, I adore this area. It truly is an area of Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah wonders.
Scouting amongst the hoodoos
I spent the afternoon scouting several locations for sunset, and I knew exactly where I wanted to be when the time came. You’ve already seen the photograph, so you know already how this turns out. I’ll spare you the details of how I was hoping it would, in fact, be an outstanding sunset and instead merely point out that the clouds cooperated perfectly. The late afternoon light just before sunset was sublime. All in all, I could not be more pleased with how Hoodoo Dance turned out.
The three larger hoodoos on top seem to dance with joyful abandon, while the smaller hoodoos to the right bask in the waning warmth of the day. The serene purple hues in the clouds tie it all together, and Hoodoo Dance is, well, what an incredible photograph it is!
The wonderful thing about the badlands is the wonders don’t cease when the sun goes down. In fact, sunset is only the beginning of the magic that happens.
The period of time after the sun has set and before it is completely dark is known as “blue hour.” Although the sun is no longer in the sky, it still provides a lot of light, although now the light is far more blue than yellow. Longer exposures bring out the blue tones, and it is possible to photograph long after the sun has departed for the day. Occasionally, these photographs take on a magical quality to them.
Such is the case with Twilight Hoodoos. I made Twilight Hoodoos almost 45 minutes after sunset with an extremely long exposure. At first glance, you don’t notice the blue tones, but as you absorb the details, you quickly begin to notice them. The result is a fantastic mixture of golden and blue tones. Best of all, there are still some purples in the clouds, giving a whole other-world feel to the photograph.
The rock where I made Twilight Hoodoos is more white, providing, almost, the appearance of snow. It’s not, though. It’s just hard, smooth white rock, which I think provides a perfect base to build the rest of the photograph from. I am constantly amazed that moving just a few hundred yards in a different direction provides an entirely distinct setting, and it looks like I, instead, traveled a hundred miles. How is this even possible?
But, I can hear you ask, what happens when the sun goes down in the badlands? Weren’t you going to talk about that?
To which I say: the badlands become even more magical. As a case in point, take Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Starscape.
Here, the Milky Way soars above the badlands, and the landscape transforms into an entirely alien world. These skies are dark—as dark as any you’ll find in New Mexico—and the Milky Way shines as bright as it possibly can. You can see, I think, millions of stars, and you can peer deep into the core of the Milky Way. It’s easy to become lost while looking up into the sky. There’s no other humans anywhere close to you, so the silence, along with the darkness, is absolute.
An experience like no other
Standing alone in the desert in the darkest of all skies, staring at the heavens soaring over the hoodoos really drives home a sense of place and scale for you. We humans are but one small mote of a never-ending universe, and here, you can feel that at your very core. It is an experience that will transfix and transform you. You cannot help but be moved by standing there. Such is the magic of the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah wonders.
And, as fate would have it, an asteroid streaked through the photograph, too! This, for me, was simply the icing on the cake, and this remains a favorite of all my badlands photographs. Talk about everything coming together and precisely the right moment!
Alas, our dark skies are threatened. First, we have the issue of the oil and gas wells in the area. Over the years, more and more wells are being drilled. The wells themselves aren’t an issue, but their lights are. In truly dark areas, you can see the tiniest of lights from a long ways away. A flashlight can be seen for miles and is enough to spoil a Milky Way image. Small pinpricks of light carry a long way. Imagine how far away you can see the bright lights of the wells.
Worse, it isn’t just the wells themselves. There are processing and holding areas, too, and these are exceptionally well-lit at night. Where once I couldn’t see a light, anywhere, in any direction I looked, now the horizon, both near and far, has a glow to it in all directions. What was truly dark is now mostly dark, and when creating photographs at night, “mostly dark” is a vast, and very unwelcome distance from “truly dark.” And it is getting worse every year.
This area is an excellent case in point. When I was last here after dark, I couldn’t see anything. Now, I had to take exceptional care to compose Ah-She-She-Pah’s Starscape to make it look as if it were completely dark. It was, in fact, not. There are oil well lights just on the other side of the hoodoos, but by careful positioning I was able to hide them just enough to pull off the effect of darkness.
Such is the price of progress. I get it, I really do. There are competing interests for the lands, and as much as the oil and gas people are as careful and thoughtful as they can be, they do create substantial light pollution. Now, it is no longer a matter of “leaving the city,” but also trying to find a place where progress hasn’t happened yet. These areas are getting fewer, small and further between and I fear it won’t be long before it is not possible to find a truly dark sky.
But, let’s not end on that note! I typically showcase three images in my long reads, but let’s add a bonus image as we end in a wonderful place.
The sunset on this particular day was truly incredible. As the sun began to slip below the horizon, the clouds kept lighting up, and the purples and pinks were as intense as any I’ve seen. Purple Hoodoos shows us just how strong the colors were, and made all the more so by the stark whites of the hoodoos.
I adore the contrast of colors in this photograph. From the small, almost colorless hoodoos in the foreground to the intense fire in the sky, the photograph becomes a study of contrast.
Truly, the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah wonders are unbelievable, and I’ll be back there again before you know. It is one of my most favorite hidden gems, and one that draws me back and again.
Postscript: After finishing this article, I decided we need just one more beautiful photograph. So, with that in mind, here’s Throne’s Glory! OK. Now we’re done.
Now we’re done. Really.
I just can’t leave it alone, can I? Throne’s Glory is available for purchase here on the website. But if the other images speak to you like they do me, contact me and we’ll build something wonderful, just for you.