Hoodoos, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness

Stuff of dreams

Covering a sizeable chunk of New Mexico and stretching into each of the Four Corners states, the San Juan Basin is host to both the stunning geology of the present and incredible glimpses into the past. Here we see a slice of the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness known as the Valley of Dreams for its somewhat hallucinatory-looking hoodoos, similar to the strange forms in nearby Bisti/De-Na-Zin. The vast high desert basin has much to offer paleontologists and archaeologists alike: Here in Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah, prehistoric fossils (including a noted species of ankylosaurus named for the spot) have been unearthed, and nearby Chaco Canyon is a well-preserved window into the Pueblo culture that thrived in this region as early as the year 900.