The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness

In the 1970s, wilderness status was proposed for the Bisti, De-Na-Zin, and the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah. In a compromise, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah got Wilderness Study Area status. Happily, decades later, I can finally refer to the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness.

I took seven trips here in 2010, looking for a rock that was not there! The “King of Wings,” a very large overhanging rock, was a closely guarded secret in New Mexico’s badlands. Only a small group of folks knew the location, and others, both in the states and in Europe, were intent on finding it. My name appeared on a German internet forum, and some thought I was part of the “conspiracy.” I told them the truth—I didn’t know exactly where the thing was. What I didn’t say was that someone in the four-corners area had told me it was in Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah.

Well, it isn’t. I should know—I hiked the place from side to side and end to end. I found that the “King” was in the greater Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah area, but not the wilderness itself. But the things I found while looking! Cross over the valley: there are miles of hoodoo landscapes on each side. This is another place which rewarded me for persistence. Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah is remote and windswept, and I never stayed overnight, so I have no sunrise or morning photos!

Some of these photos are also in my New Mexico Badlands and More New Mexico Badlands galleries, but there are many new ones here.