The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a 60 mile remote rolling landscape of badlands with some of the most unusual scenery found in the Four Corners Region. Time and natural elements have etched a fantasy world of strange rock formations made of interbedded sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal, and silt. We’ve seen this topography/geology several times in our travels. The weathering of the sandstone forms hoodoos – weathered rock in the form of pinnacles, spires, cap rocks, and other unusual forms. Translated from the Navajo language, Bisti (Bis-tie) means “a large area of shale hills.” De-Na-Zin (Deh-nah-zin) takes its name from the Navajo words for “cranes”.
There are no marked trails out here, though AllTrails has some routes, or you can just wander. We did a combo of both to see some of the area. If you aren’t familiar using gps or reading maps, I’d suggest you skip this adventure because you could easily get disoriented and lost. We spent 4 hours hiking and climbing around to see as much as possible and had a blast.I HIGHLY recommend stopping here if you are in the area. It’s an amazing day trip.
Afterwards, we went to Bow and Arrow Brewery. This is a female, Native American owned brewery. Shyla Sheppard, who has heritage from the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara of North Dakota), and her business partner and wife, Dr. Missy Begay, who has Diné heritage (the term many Navajo people prefer to describe themselves) founded Bow & Arrow in 2016. Derek and I first tasted their beer at a brewfest in Durango a few years ago and knew we would have it again. The main brewery is in Albuquerque but they also have a tasting room in Farmington…where we went.
Yum.
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