New Mexico, help with a location of ‘red sand-hills’

Hwy 550 turns west from San Ysidro at White Mesa, which is very cool in its own right. Then the hwy turns back north and heads up a canyon. As it runs up that canyon there are hillocks. I did not stop and actually measure them as I was running late to get to Farmington. But while in the canyon they appeared to be as described. The canyon opens to a valley between mesas before dropping back down. This is the first view of Cabazon Peak to the left, where I nearly ran off into the ditch trying to get the truck stopped for a quick shot.

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South of San Ysidro is the White Mesa Mountain Biking area. https://goo.gl/images/4fC5q2 There is one valley there that might fit the bill. There is also the wilderness area down that way.

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Hi Kirk, thanks for your information. That White Mesa is the area I have come across and I think the wilderness area is called Ojito but I got Cabezon Road and Cabezon the place mixed up so maybe wrong. Anyhow looks interesting to explore. I came across www.nmjeeptours.com and that's where I got the intitial information from, then further detail from BLM site and amercansouthwest.net.

Good. That whole area is interesting from a number of different angles. There is a large Chaco Outlier down that way too which looks out across the Rio Puerco at Cabezon. It’s on private land though which didn’t used to be problem but now is.
FWIW, I used to know a guy with NM Jeep Tours. He is a great guy. I don’t know if he is still with them.

Rickydicky: I agree that your novelist must have grabbed "New Mexico" as a remote and interesting location for a fictional landscape. Like you, I sometimes plan photo-trips around works of fiction, so I sympathize. There are lots of interesting opportunities there, if you feel like going anyway. Kirk has mentioned some, and I'd like to add the Bisti badlands in the Northwest corner of the state. Happy shooting.

Not NM, but could it be Coconino Forest, near Flagstaff? We just drove through in late February, and the rocks are definitely RED.

I thought of the red rock area in AZ but the shape is different. Shapewise it sounds like the Painted Desert, but the colors are wrong.