Anyone who has been to the Badlands of South Dakota will have an idea of what the Bisti (pronounced beast eye) Wilderness is like. Perhaps less dramatic and on a much smaller scale than South Dakota's, Bisti has its own bucket of uniqueness.

The ground is a conglomeration of shale, sandstone, coal, and volcanic ash, to name a few. It seems they were all deposited at different times and arrived from different places starting about 70 million years ago.

I wouldn't call Bisti pretty. It's colors are largely gray, black and sand-colored. Scattered about, however, are mounds of rock chips colored in reds and oranges.

There are no marked hiking trails in the area, but visitors are free to roam among the rocks and mounds, ever careful not to do unnecessary damage to soft sandstone structures. One must also be mindful to make mental landmarks in order to find their way back to the trailhead.

There are very few road signs leading to the area. The closest town is Farmington, 35 miles north. Highway 371 is the only main road leading to the wilderness, where there is a sign that marks access via a packed gravel road before getting into the thick of the badlands. Driving from the south, there is also a road sign giving a quarter-mile notice.