Valley of Dreams

The final stop on my May 2024 trip agenda was a remote and little known spot in New Mexico's Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness known as the Valley of Dreams. Contrary to what I'd read online, the roads getting here were actually quite well maintained until the last mile or so and the directions I'd found easy to follow. The mistake I made was in attempting to backpack out into the valley. It's only about a mile hike from the parking lot and in retrospect might have been better to simply hike out in the dark at 3am for night photography. I had difficulty setting up my tent due to the sandy soil and windy conditions, though finally succeeded. In the middle of the night however, the wind increased and my tent ended up collapsing on me. I had to pack up at midnight in the dark, and spent a couple hours just standing around before finally the sky cleared enough to start doing night sky photography and star trails. It was an exhausting, sleepless night with fine sand getting everywhere... but the photos I came away with were amazing. The rock formations here are completely nuts, unlike anything I've ever seen before. The headline formation which is gaining some fame online is the "Alien Throne" and is well deserving of its name.