If you are visiting the Four Corners Region, you have to stay in Farmington, New Mexico. The largest city in the area is made for outdoor enthusiasts and cultural explorers. Farmington may be home to only 44,000 people, yet the city welcomes visitors. There are over 100 restaurants, a variety of quaint shops, and a calendar full of events and festivals. The area is teeming with opportunity for adventure and we recommend you add the Aztec Ruins National Monument, Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area, and the Dinetah Pueblitos and Defensive Sites to your list of must-see attractions.
Aztec Ruins National Monument
The Aztec Ruins National Monument provides an opportunity to follow the pathways of an ancient Pueblo society. Visitors start their tour in a building that once served as the home of archeologist Earl Morris. The home now operates as a visitor center and has a museum and orientation video. After acclimating to the history of the ruins, take a half-mile walk along the Aztec West Self-Guided Trail. You will truly feel as though you are walking in the footsteps of the ancestral Puebloans as you wind through original rooms and buildings. Architects today may be able to learn something from the well-preserved stone masonry and original wood roofing. The ceremonial Great Kiva is 40-foot in diameter and holds the title of the oldest and largest reconstructed building of its kind.
Have more of an interest in plants than in history? The Heritage Garden and Native Plants Walk features wild plants that been a staple of Southwest people for years and years. Park staff and volunteers also maintain gardens of traditional corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and gourds.
The Ruins also sit along the route that traders took from Santa Fe, NM to Los Angeles, CA. Visitors can traverse the nationally recognized Old Spanish National Historic Trail as it crosses the Animas River.
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area
The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area is one of the most unique places in the Four Corners Region to hike. The badlands are filled with rock formations that appear to be straight out of a fantasy land. Weather and time have molded some of the sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal, and silt to look like melting sand castles that were built by giants. There are pinnacles and spires of all shapes and sizes. The Navajo named the area Bisti or “a large area of shale hills” and De-Na-Zin or “cranes.” But, of course, they were not the first living things to occupy the area. Fossils can be found throughout the sedimentary rocks. Use your creativity to imagine the stories of the animals and people that once lived in this magical place. Surely the rock formations once made for epic games of hide-and-seek. Two trailheads can be accessed from regularly maintained roads yet the areas are still quite remote. While the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area is open year-round, it is recommended that visitors make note of potential for dangerous heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter.
Dinetah Pueblitos
The Dinetah Pueblitos and Defensive Sites are stone structures built atop large boulders or outcrops. The Bureau of Land Management maintains seven pueblitos. Research has established that most of the structures were built by Navajo (Dine) in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were used as shelters, for cooking, and as a defensive strategy. An interesting aspect of security for these buildings are the peep holes built into the doors. Imagine using the peep hole in your front door for more than just seeing if it’s the mailperson or the nosy neighbor knocking. The shelters also feature hooded fireplaces which show the ingenuity of the people who knew how to deflect intense heat build-up and protect the fireplace. Simon Canyon Ruin is 3.5 miles below the Navajo Dam and accessible by a moderate half-mile hike from the parking lot. From there, you can follow the directions to Frances Canyon Ruin and beyond. Note that some of the ruins are accessible only after crossing a wash. Do not attempt to cross a wash if there is water present.
WHERE TO STAY IN FARMINGTON
Don’t miss the Casa Blanca Inn and Suites when you visit Farmington. Each of the nine guest rooms is decorated in a charming Southwestern style. The Spanish Colonial Hacienda is only 25 minutes from the Aztec Ruins National Monument, and an hour from both the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area and the Dinetah Pueblitos and Defensive Sites. It is an ideal homebase for exploration of the area and you can easily walk to restaurants when you return to the inn for the evening.