Petrified Forest National Park

A Quick Drive Through

Last September my husband and I drove part of Route 66 from Illinois to Williams, Arizona. From there we headed north to our final destination, the Grand Canyon.

As we headed west from Albuquerque, Interstate 40 (which used to be Route 66 in places) passed through the Petrified Forest National Park. This wasn’t on our itinerary but we don’t tend to stick to itineraries anyway.

From the National Park Service site:

“Petrified Forest is best known for its Triassic fossils. It’s like having two parks in one, an ecosystem over 200 million years old with plants and animals now represented in the surreal landscape of the Painted Desert. There is also a living park with its own denizens adapted to a demanding environment.”

Petrified Forest Road runs through the park from I-40 to I-180. It may have added an extra hour or two to our trip but we had no schedule anyway.

We were so glad we did this. The painted desert and petrified forest landscapes are beautiful and surreal.

There are several stop-off points along the way. We didn’t stop at all of them but hit quite a few.

The colors varied from brown, tan dirt and sand to these deep rusty reds. What a magical place.

Further down the road are these lilac and purple rocky mountainous formations. It’s all so otherworldly. We hadn’t even gotten to the petrified wood areas yet.

I found these small mountains fascinating as they seem to appear from nothing out of the ground.

We stopped at one location, the Agate Bridge. It’s a petrified log that spans across a small gully there. The log is 100′ long and 4′ in diameter and is 16′ above the canyon floor.

They used to allow people to walk on it. Now it has a concrete support beam and is off-limits to climb on.

Being a desert the plant life isn’t overly popping with lush greenery. It is still beautiful, especially with the backdrop of colorful rocks.

I couldn’t resist the combination of these delicate little purple blooms and the deep red hills behind them.

Out of the black basalt grows this little ray of sunshine yellow. There were so many scenes like this as we wandered the paths throughout the park.

Then we came to the part of the park with the majority of the petrified trees. This is so surreal. To stand there and know that this area used to be a forest, lush with trees and plants. To see the petrified tree pieces strewn across the landscape is incredible.

Looking at these huge hunks of petrified wood up close was magical. They are nature’s sculptures with amazing textures and colors.

The park is a must-see in my opinion. I hope to return and have an entire day or more to spend wandering the paths and trails. There is so much more to take in than I ever expected.

For more information on Petrified Forest National Park, check out the National Park Service’s site.