A-Shi-Sle-Pa Nature Reserve - a place that looks like a Martian landscape more than on Earth
A-Shi-Sle-Pa Nature Reserve - a place that looks like a Martian landscape more than on Earth

Video: A-Shi-Sle-Pa Nature Reserve - a place that looks like a Martian landscape more than on Earth

Video: A-Shi-Sle-Pa Nature Reserve - a place that looks like a Martian landscape more than on Earth
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A-Shi-Sle-Pa (in another version, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah) is a huge wasteland, where there are no animals, no water, no plants, no cellular communications, and certainly there are no human settlements for many kilometers around. But there are absolutely stunning landscapes of conical and mushroom rock formations, cairns, fossils of various mollusks and insects, as well as dinosaur bones.

Wasteland in New Mexico
Wasteland in New Mexico
Hoodoo in the desert
Hoodoo in the desert

This enchanted stone forest is located in the northwest of the state of New Mexico, you can get there by car, which is true, it is better to do it in good weather. The entire area is covered with chalky and clayey soils, which is why in the rain the traveler risks, if not slipping on the slopes of one of the rocks, so certainly carry a couple of kilograms of stuck mud on each leg.

Amazing landscape. Photo: squirella
Amazing landscape. Photo: squirella
Petrified wood. Photo: squirella
Petrified wood. Photo: squirella

But it is precisely these limestone deposits that adhere so remarkably to shoes that are the reason for the uniqueness of this place. In these deposits you can find perfectly preserved remains of prehistoric animals and plants. Small finds, like shellfish fossils, are even allowed (“in reasonable quantities”) to be taken home as a souvenir, but any bones of large animals are strictly not allowed to be touched.

Landscape A-Shi-SL-Pa. Photo: squirella
Landscape A-Shi-SL-Pa. Photo: squirella
Fossils. Photo: squirella
Fossils. Photo: squirella

In the wasteland, you can see a combination of several contrasting shades of rocks at once. White paints are clay, black are volcanic ash, brown and reddish blotches are chips of prehistoric fossilized trees. Sometimes here you can find whole branches of plants that grew here during the time of prehistoric dinosaurs, fish and birds.

Multi-colored rocks of the desert. Photo: squirella
Multi-colored rocks of the desert. Photo: squirella
Palette A-Shi-Sle-Pa. Photo: squirella
Palette A-Shi-Sle-Pa. Photo: squirella

The entire A-Shi-Sle-Pa valley stretches over 26 square kilometers, but the most famous part of it, for the worst, is located at the very edge. Hoodoo are tall, pointed formations of soft geological rocks that have been "thinned" by water and wind over the years. At the same time, at the top of these rocks there is another, more durable rock, which has been less affected by erosion and which ultimately creates the appearance of a "mushroom cap" near the rock. Such formations tend to form in hot and waterless areas, and A-Shi-Sle-Pa is an ideal place for this.

The unusual shapes of the landscape are due to soft rocks and erosion. Photo: squirella
The unusual shapes of the landscape are due to soft rocks and erosion. Photo: squirella
Cretaceous wasteland. Photo: squirella
Cretaceous wasteland. Photo: squirella
Reserve. Photo: squirella
Reserve. Photo: squirella
Desert Night
Desert Night
Multilayer rocks
Multilayer rocks
Hoodoo
Hoodoo
A-Shi-Sle-Pa
A-Shi-Sle-Pa
Rocks
Rocks
Fossils can be found in the Desert. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Fossils can be found in the Desert. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Petrified wood. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Petrified wood. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
From high. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
From high. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Desert in the afternoon. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Desert in the afternoon. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Desert in the evening. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Desert in the evening. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Hoodoo in A-Shi-Sle-Pa
Hoodoo in A-Shi-Sle-Pa
Wasteland in New Mexico. Photo: Alex Mironyuk
Wasteland in New Mexico. Photo: Alex Mironyuk

On the other side of the Earth, in the Gobi Desert, you can also find many fossils - it was here that the largest deposits were found at one time. remains of dinosaurs.

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