Petrified Forest National Park

Visited: Aug 2015

Nearby town: Holbrook, AZ

"So that was once a tree? Hmmm. Petrified forest, eh? Suitable haven for me. Well, perhaps that's what I'm destined to become, an interesting fossil for future study."

-Leslie Howard as Alan Squier in the film The Petrified Forest (1936)

In the seemingly barren high desert of northeastern Arizona lies a beautiful slice of pure Americana. Here you will find a plethora of petrified wood, petroglyphs, a colorful desert, an historic inn, and a section of the legendary Route 66.

Petrified Forest NP is the perfect national park to visit in a day trip. In fact, unlike most parks, the gates are closed on the main park road at 6 or 7 in the evening (depending on the time of year). This is to deter theft of petrified wood. Unfortunately, tourists over the years have taken them from the Park as "souvenirs" thus depleting the copious amounts of petrified wood found here. They are very serious about protecting the erstwhile trees. There are stiff penalties for attempting to smuggle out petrified wood. So, don't be tempted. Keep it there for future generations to enjoy. If you really need some, you can buy petrified wood at the Park Gift Shop or in the town of Holbrook.

But anyway, this Park can be easily explored and enjoyed in one day. All the sites are easily accessed by the 28 mile Park Road, the northern terminus is Exit 311 on Interstate 40 just a few miles east of Holbrook. We entered the Park at the South Entrance and the first stop is the Rainbow Forest Museum. There are some fossil exhibits and good diagrams of how the Petrified Forest was created.

So, how was it created? And why here? 225 million years ago or so, this land was a lot closer to the Equator and had a very tropical and humid climate. Trees thrived here. However, the trees were washed away by ancient rivers and were logjammed and then covered and buried by volcanic ash, silt and soil. This helped preserve the tree trunks for millions of years, and petrified (literally "turned to stone"), or fossilized, the trees and some ancient animals (no dinosaur fossils in this location).

After learning all about the ancient biology of this area at the museum, head outside and take the easy half mile Giant Logs trail. If you want a longer hike, there is also the two mile Long Logs/Agate House on the other side of the road across from the museum. We took the Giant Logs trail and got our first taste of what this environment has to offer.

Head down the Park road for a few miles and take the .75 nature trail through the Crystal Forest.

The next stop is Jasper Forest overlook and Agate Bridge. A petrified log fell and formed a natural bridge over a small gully. The log is falling, so park officials have buttressed it with a thick layer of cement underneath.

Make sure you take the offshoot road to the Blue Mesa Loop for nice views. If you want you can hike down from the mesa, it's only a mile loop hike. But it had started to approach noon and the summer Arizona sun was beating down on us, so we just enjoyed the views from the overlooks along the road.

The next stop is the best preserved Pueblo ruins in the park. Home to the ancestral Pueblans, these ruins are approximately 1000 years old. There are also lots of petroglyphs to see.

You'll then cross over the freeway and enter the northern region of the park. There is less petrified wood here, the main attraction here is the Painted Desert. A name aptly deserved, as seen here from Chinde Point.

Make sure you stop at the Painted Desert Inn. Originally built out of petrified wood in 1920, the National Park purchased the inn in 1935. The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) began remodeling and built the inn in it's present state, a Pueblo Revival style. In the early 1940s, the Inn served as a restaurant and hotel for travelers along Route 66. The Fred Harvey Company managed the Inn at this time, as they did numerous other sites along Route 66 and the Santa Fe railroad. The Inn has served as a Park Visitor Center since 1963. This area was the setting for many classic films, including "The Petrified Forest" (1936) starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart in his first major film role and made him a breakout star; "The Painted Desert" (1931) with Bill Boyd (who later played Hopalong Cassidy) and Clark Gable in his first speaking role; and "The Harvey Girls" (1946) a musical starring Judy Garland.

around the door is petrified wood from the original 1920 structure

Petrified Forest is a great stop for families traveling across Northern Arizona on Interstate 40. Take a few hours for a pleasant detour to learn interesting history and see some amazing, unique sites. Entrance fee is $20. More info at: https://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm