We visited the Petrified Forest National Park after visiting Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. I will admit, it was great knowing we would see all the major sites in this National Park in half a day. An additional benefit would be not feeling exhausted at the end of our day.
With one of the highest concentrations of petrified logs on earth, this area of land had to be protected. A wagon route, which later became part of Route 66, and the railroad brought early settlers and tourists into the region from 1857 to 1880. As individuals began taking what they wanted, the Territory of Arizona took the first steps to protect the land in 1895 and President Theodore Roosevelt created the Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906. The Petrified Forest was established as a National Park on December 9, 1962, protecting and preserving this land as it should be!
In this National Park, a 28-mile park road takes you from one entrance to the other. Take note of which park entrance works best based on your direction of travel. For us, we started off Highway 40 at the Painted Desert Visitor Center and drove south, ending our day at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center.
As with most National Parks, in the Visitor Centers you will find interesting facts about the park and a gift shop. We always stop at the Visitor Centers to check out any museum/displays, if needed speak to a ranger to discuss “best sights”, and pick up our park map. Plus, we have to purchase our all-important bumper sticker for the RV!
Immediately after departing the Painted Desert Visitors Center, you approach the first of ten pull-offs/overlooks within the Painted Desert section of the park. All offer views of the colorful Painted Desert. Views are accessible from the parking area without the need to hike.
I will mention that the Painted Desert Inn, a national historic landmark, is located at Kachina Point. Due to Covid, this was closed during our visit. Had it been open, I am sure we would have stayed longer to walk through the exhibits. Check NPS.gov for the latest status on closures. The Tewa hiking trail begins from the visitors center and goes to Kachina Point, a 1.2-mile one-way trail.
- Tiponi Point
- Tawa Point
- Kachina Point (Painted Desert Inn)
- Chinde Point, a short drive off Petrified Forest Road with great views of the Painted Desert
- Pintado Point
- Nizhoni Point
- Whipple Point
- Lacy Point
After completing the overlooks within the Painted Desert section you will approach the Route 66 stop. An interesting fact we learned during our visit was Route 66 once passed through this park. I had to stop to take a picture of an old rusted Studebaker that sits by the old Route 66. The original telephone poles that once lined Route 66 remain. This is as Americana as one can get, so stop, take a picture, and pause for a moment to think about what it must have been like to travel through this area on old Route 66.
We reached our next stop, Puerto Pueblo, an ancestral pueblo village, after driving 5.3 miles through the desert. We hiked the 0.3-mile loop trail that highlights ancestral Puebloan homes and petroglyphs.
As we headed to Blue Mesa, we passed Newspaper Rock which displays over 650 petroglyphs, and The Tepees, rust-colored hills situated throughout the desert landscape.
Blue Mesa Scenic Road is a 3-mile spur loop off the main road. Put this on your must-do list! Stop at the Blue Mesa Trailhead and hike this one-mile loop trail. A steep trail drops into the desert. The colors of the badlands and petrified rock littering the landscape are incredible, making this hike worth the effort. I am not sure where else you will see anything quite like this. It was not crowded like the Crystal Forest loop trail, making it an enjoyable hike.
We continued our day by stopping at Agate Bridge for a view of a 110-foot long petrified log, and then a quick stop at Jasper Forest, an overlook with much-petrified wood scattered throughout the desert landscape.
It was time to stretch our legs so we stopped at Crystal Forest and walked the .75 mile loop trail. Petrified wood/logs line the paved trail and are visible everywhere. As petrified logs line the trail, please obey the signs and do not sit or stand on these logs. This is a National Park! Please preserve what we have. We observed too many people disobeying the signs.
Our final stop was the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. Located behind the Visitor Center is the Giant Log Trail, a .4 mile loop trail with longer pieces of petrified wood. If Albert Einstein took the time to visit here, you should too.
Access Long Logs and Agate House trailhead from the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center parking lot. It is about 800 feet to the trailhead. We chose to hike a small portion of Long Logs Trail. From here you can see the Agate House in the distance. The Agate House is a seven-room pueblo constructed of petrified wood. As it was early afternoon and the Arizona heat was getting intense, we headed back to the truck. That concluded our day.
As you leave the South Entrance Station, there are two gift shops. Here you can purchase petrified wood or other souvenirs. We choose to stop at Jim Grey’s Petrified Wood at the intersection of 180 and 77, a gigantic store of all things rocks. Pricing was reasonable (hint).
In total, we spent about five hours in the park. This gave us plenty of time to stop at many of the pullovers and take several hikes. If you are driving along Interstate 40, take time to drive through this National Park~ the sight of petrified logs throughout the landscape is a sight to be seen!
Savvy-Traveler 