Alien Throne, Valley of Dreams, New Mexico

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Alien Throne & Valley of Dreams New Mexico

Valley of Dreams New Mexico is most famous for Alien Throne, an impressive rock formation carved by wind and water. The entire area is full of hoodoos and other rock formations carved out of the badlands over time.

Farmington, New Mexico, is the closest city to Valley of Dreams. While a day trip from Albuquerque is a possibility, staying in Farmington gives you more time to explore the badlands area and do several hikes in a day.

Alien Throne is a hoodoo located at the north end of the Valley of Dreams in New Mexico near the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness. Part of the hike is through Navajo tribal lands. Alien Thone is not in the Bisti Badlands/De-Na-Zin Wilderness although that area does have a lot of similar features to the Valley of Dreams.

What is Valley of Dreams New Mexico?

Valley of Dreams New Mexico is a place carved by wind and rain and one of the main areas to see hoodoos in New Mexico. This remote area of the northwestern New Mexico badlands features hoodoos scattered across the landscape. With names like Three Wise Men, Giant Mushroom, Chocolate Penguin King, and Red Dinosaur Egg, let your imagination run wild and see what you can find.

The most famous formation here is the Alien Throne hoodoo. When you see it, you’ll see why everyone scours the area to find this specific rock.

Alien Throne is not actually in the Bisti Badlands but in the nearby Valley of Dreams. The Bisti Badlands do have a lot of hoodoos and other rock formations to explore though.

Over the years, the wind and rain have eroded part of Alien Throne to leave a variety of holes in the base of it. Some parts of the base are extremely thin, but this natural work of art is still standing.

So many rock formation, explore. I was lucky it snowed a bit the night before, which put a good contrast for the pictures, but it was cold as hell.

I hiked to the King of Wings instead of turning around and driving to it. It is just a two mile hike on level ground, I just ducked under one fence and bonus, I ran into these wild horses:

The King of Wings is all that is advertised, the biggest wing in the Bisti Wilderness. You have to climb a 100 yard slope and the rock formation is exposed on all sides to the wind (and it was a windy day). I looked around and I didn’t see any other rock formations that I was interested in; probably there is a couple but it was so windy and cold that I wasn’t inclined to explore. On top of that, I went to the King of Wings first and then to the Valley of Dreams, so I know there was going to be quite a bit to explore in there.

Alien Throne, Valley of Dreams, New Mexico

With any luck, an extraterrestrial takeover of Earth is a problem for distant future generations to worry about. But should we ever welcome new alien overlords, expect their edicts to issue from this regal feature. The hoodoo dubbed the Alien Throne cuts an eerie figure against a Southwestern sunset, towering over remote New Mexican badlands crowded with other natural yet freakish formations. Though often associated with the nearby Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, the Throne actually lies within another field of bizarre landforms: the Valley of Dreams.