The Ojito Wilderness is big and wild enough to get lost in, but very accessible via
    car. The area is New Mexico desert at its best. Parched, yet sublime landscapes made
    up of broken mesas and undulating badlands capped with twisted and ancient junipers
    that may predate the arrival of the Spanish.
		 
    The area combines elements of the Bisti badlands with Santa Fe skies, Abique fossils,
    and southern Utah redrock. This area is called the Hoodoo Pine hike because it leads
    to an area of mushroom shaped hoodoos and relic Ponderosa pines growing far below where
    they are generally found in New Mexico.
	
    A hoodoo (also tent rock, fairy chimney, earth pyramid) is a tall thin spire of rock that
    protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of
    soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that
    protects the column from the elements.
		 
    In order to find the Hoodoo Pine hike from Albuquerque, head north on I-25 to Bernalillo
    and turn West on US 550. Past Zia Pueblo and about 2 miles before San Ysidro you will
    see a well marked gravel road on the west side of US 550. There is a street sign at the
    intersection marking this as Cabezon Road. Turn left onto Cabezon Road and immediately
    take the left fork. It is eleven miles to the destination we hiked. 
    
    About 10 miles from US 550 you’ll pass a parking area on your left.  As you pass the parking
    area you head downhill and through a wash. A prominent red mesa will be just north of you.
    Watch for a two track on the north side of the road at about mile eleven. If you reach
    an intersection with a natural gas pumping station you’ve missed your trailhead and
    reached the pipeline road which forms the western boundary of the WSA. When you find
    the two track pull off the main road and park immediately. Don’t try to follow the old
    track into the WSA. A sign prohibiting motor vehicles and several wooden posts should
    block further motorized progress on the old road. Get out here and follow the fading
    two track north to an old fence. After the fence, the track disappears, but just follow
    the base of the mesa and keep your eyes out for pine trees and hoodoos. The most
    interesting hoodoos are just over a mile from where you parked. 

   The hike was just under four miles, I was surprised that it didn't cover much more
   territory as we wandered around and exploring all sorts of nooks, crooks, crannies, and
   cliffs. We say tracks from porcupines, deer, and coyotes.  This is not a hike for summer
   time as its high desert with no babbling mountain brooks of any kind. There is just lots
   of scenery, sky and silence.
   
   The most exciting part was looking for the dinosaur bones that where discovered many years
   ago.  We searched for awhile and then agreed to find the GPS coordinates and return at a
   later date.
	

Pictures