Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness is located in New Mexico, between Chaco Canyon and the De-Na-Zin Wilderness.

The name comes from phonetic transliteration of Navajo term “áshįįh łibá” meaning grey salt.

Together with the nearby areas of Bisti Badlands and De-Na-Zin Wilderness they form an interesting area with multicolored badlands, sandstone hoodoos, petrified wood and dinosaur bones.

As a wilderness area, it is only accessible on foot. There are three main areas to visit. The first has a parking area alongside NM57.

We met a couple from Austria on their overlanding rig. We first met them in October 2024 in Nova Scotia and a few days ago in Chaco Culture. It is a small world indeed.

This area has many hoodoos, petrified wood and fossils. As always you should leave them untouched. You basically walk on a dry riverbed and since the terrain is continuously changing and the lack of rock cairns you should bring a GPS and a good map of the area to avoid getting lost.

The second area is denoted Valley of Dreams and the roads leading to the parking area are rough. The nearest road is NM7870.

This second area contains two distinct badlands areas. The most interesting one is the last one with many peculiar formations including the Alien Throne.

Finally, the last area is where king of the wings is located. The general area is located off NM7650. From there you follow a path along a fence until you reach a windmill. Go around the windmill and be prepared for the next difficult final mile. The hike in this area also takes you to a wash until you reach a group of hoodoos where King of the Wings cannot me missed.