11 Badlands Showcasing Nature's Most Vivid Geology

9. The Alien Badlands of Bisti/De-Na-Zin, New Mexico, USA

Venture into a truly surreal dreamscape in New Mexico’s Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. Here, millennia of erosion have sculpted soft shale and sandstone into an utterly alien terrain of bizarre hoodoos, cracked egg-like boulders, mushroom-shaped pedestals, and petrified logs. With minimal vegetation, the stark, multi-hued landscape feels like a desolate lunar surface or a scene from another planet. Exploring its labyrinthine washes and strange formations is an exercise in discovery, where every turn reveals a new, fantastical sculpture crafted by wind and water – a truly ingenious and otherworldly masterpiece of natural erosion.