Today we are exploring Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. It is one of the three national parks in Arizona and this will be our first time here. To read about how we got here, see: Our Road Trip from Florida to Arizona and Back. Today is a beautiful day and we are looking forward to visiting Petrified Forest.
Planning Petrified Forest
Petrified Forest National Park has 2 entrances. And from the North entrance to the South entrance is a 28 mile scenic road through the park. We passed the North entrance on the way to our motel in Holbrook last night, and plan to start there. Once through the North entrance, we will head to the Painted Desert Visitor Center first. From there we will traverse the Painted Desert area of the park before crossing under I-40 down to the South entrance. We will make stops along the way and end at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. Once we leave the South entrance we will leave on US-180 and head back toward Holbrook.
After we leave the park, Becky wants to stop at Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co to buy some petrified wood. It is on US-180 close to our motel and where we started. So, we are basically traveling a loop before heading onto Flagstaff. Flagstaff is about 1.5 hours away and this whole trip is less than 3 hours.
Entrance fee to the park is $25 per vehicle normally. However, we bought the America the Beautiful Annual pass for $80 knowing we would be going to multiple parks on this trip. This pass is good for any national park site fees for all passengers in your vehicle. It is also good for one year. So, with our daughter and Becky’s parents we have plenty of time to explore Petrified Forest National Park. For more information on this park, see Petrified Forest National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).
North Entrance and the Painted Desert Visitor Center
We leave Brad’s Desert Inn in Holbrook, AZ early and make it to the North entrance before 7:30AM. The entrance sign is always a good place to stop for a photo, so we stop for a few. Not far past the sign, we enter the parking lot for the Painted Desert Visitor Center. We have a temporary handicap car tag because Becky broke her foot about a week before we left. So, we are able to park close. She is rocking the knee scooter, but we will need to take that into consideration while in the park.
Inside the Painted Desert Visitor Center is a bookstore, exhibits, a gift shop, a restaurant as well as restrooms. Visitor centers are usually a first stop for us for a few reasons. The first is Becky has to get her passport stamp. We had bought a passport on a previous trip, and you can stamp it at almost every national park site. This is a great way to track where you’ve been and where. While here, we also buy our normal fridge magnet and some t-shirts. Another reason is we get maps and information. We talk to a park ranger who tells us his favorite hike in the park is the Blue Mesa Trail. We’ll check it out.
The visitor center is also part of the Painted Desert Community Complex. This complex serves as the parks headquarters which encompasses 23 buildings and sites. We exit the visitor center into a square with buildings around. An interesting metal sculpture is in this square. We find out it is the park’s mascot which is from a petroglyph found in the park. It can also be found on merchandise inside their gift shop which now makes sense.
The Painted Desert section of Petrified Forest
The scenic road through the Painted Desert area of the park starts just past the visitor center. The map we got there shows all the stops in this Northern section of the park. and the first stop is Tipponi Point. There’s a nice paved lot here where you walk down some steps to the overlook. This is the start of the Painted Desert area as you can see colors far as your eyes can see.
The next stop is Tawa Point, similar to the last overlook, but with even better views. Here is also the start of 2 trails. The Tawa Trail goes back 1.2 miles to the visitor center. And the Painted Desert Rim Trail goes forward a half a mile to the next stop, the Painted Desert Inn. With Becky’s broken foot, we opt to drive there instead.
The Painted Desert Inn is a National Historic Landmark. Once a stop for travelers on Route 66, the inn is now a museum. Unfortunately, it is closed due to Covid. However, we walk around and peek through the windows to see inside. The red structure blends into the landscape around it. Behind it is Kachina Point that overlooks miles of desert wilderness. The Wilderness Trail also starts here where you can hike into the wilderness as far as you like.
Past the inn, is a little turn toward Chinde Point, where you get a different viewpoint of the wilderness. After this overlook, you start to head south and there are a few more overlooks very close together. We stopped at a couple with very similar views. The Painted Desert is very beautiful, but we are ready to explore the rest of the park.
Route 66, Puerco Pueblo and Newspaper Rock
The scenic road heads under I-40 all the way to the South entrance of the park. However, there is one stop prior to I-40, the Route 66 historic alignment. A shell of a 1932 Studebaker sits where Route 66 once cut through the park. You can still see the telephone poles that once marked the old road. Petrified Forest is the only national park that contains a section of the historic Route 66.
There are multiple stops along the scenic route, but Puerco Pueblo is the first after I-40. We pull into the paved parking lot where there are restrooms. At this point, it has been about 2 hours since we entered the park. Puerco Pueblo was a village in the 1300s but now is ruins. It is just a 0.3 mile hike to the Puerco Pueblo ruins but looks rather rocky. We decide to not take the short hike, but rather head to the next stop, Newspaper Rock.
About a mile down the road, we take the spur road to Newspaper Rock. There is a paved catwalk to an overlook with free spotting scopes. This site has over 650 petroglyphs on the rockfaces within this area which is where it gets its name. These petroglyphs, or rock carvings, were created by ancestral Pueblos up to 2,000 years ago. You really have to look through the scopes to get a good view of them, but a nice stop. We’ve seen the Painted Desert, petroglyphs and more, but hopefully we’ll see some petrified wood at the next stop.
Blue Mesa Area in Petrified Forest
Our next stop is the Blue Mesa Road Loop. We turn off the main road onto this 3.5 mile loop which ascends to a mesa. There are multiple pull-outs along the way. We stop the car at a pull-out and see grayish badlands with a butte in the distance. A very stark contrast from the Painted Desert. We make it to the top and there is a parking lot. Up here are picnic tables as well as the start of the trail.
This is a great place to get out and just look out all around. However, the start of the trail looked really neat. Even though it is mostly paved, there is a steep grade down. Becky can’t go with her broken foot, but everyone tells Paul to go for it. The Blue Mesa Trail is a 1 mile loop trail that descends from the mesa into the Blue Mesa Basin. The start of the trail goes along the ridgeline and soon declines 120 feet into a hidden valley. Once out of the valley, the trail opens up where it begins to loop through the basin.
Unlike the Painted Desert with warm oranges and reds, this trail has cool blues and grays. It is a stark contrast in colors but such a beautiful trail. Not only are the rock formations beautiful, but there is petrified wood in many places. There is also a large piece that looks like it is on a pedestal. Paul takes the trek back up to the rest of the crew to share what he has seen. He notices an overlook while in the basin, so we drive to the next pullout to see it from the top.
Agate Bridge, Jasper Forest and Crystal Forest Trail
We leave the Blue Mesa loop road and return to the main scenic road. The next stop is the Agate Bridge. There is a small paved parking lot with a walkway through a small building with some interpretive signs. Just past is the fossilized tree that now forms Agate Bridge, a 110 foot log that spans a gully. Water has exposed this petrified tree over time creating the bridge. It is supported by a concrete span constructed to preserve it. However, the concrete takes away from the beauty of the bridge itself. After the quick stop we head to the Jasper Forest stop.
Jasper Forest is another quick stop where you park and walk to an overlook. From here you can see a panoramic view of an area with a high concentration of petrified wood. Millions of years ago this was a large forest and now is a desert with the fossilized wood. You can see pieces of the wood scattered in the plain below.
Unlike the last 2 quick stops, the Crystal Forest Trail allows you to get up close to petrified wood. It starts from the parking area and is a 0.75 mile loop. Though it is a fairly short paved trail, there is an incline which is a little much for Becky. She can only go so far on the knee scooter, but it’s open, so you can see most of the trail. We walk a little and our daughter climbs on what looks like stumps but are fossilized rock. This trail is named for the beautiful quartz crystals in the petrified wood.
Petrified Forest Rainbow Forest Museum and Giant Logs Trail
The last stop on the scenic road is the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. We park up front and head into the museum. Besides the petrified wood and petroglyphs found in the park, the museum showcases dinosaur fossils also found in the park. They have many impressive fully reconstructed dinosaur fossils on display. In addition to the dinosaurs, there is another passport stamp and a small shop.
Out the back door is the start of the Giant Logs Trail. The trail has several sets of stairs and not suitable for mobility impaired. So, Becky and Poppa decide to hang out by the museum while the rest of us do the 0.4 mile loop trail. This trail features some of the largest and most colorful logs in the park.
The trail is short but a more moderate hike with some elevation. The reward is some giant preserved logs which are fun to climb on. Climbing or sitting on these logs is completely safe for the logs. As they are no longer wood, but fossilized minerals keeping the log shape. Think climbing on a rock. After having some fun, we head back to the car. We depart the park around 1:30 in the afternoon having spent about half a day here.
Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co.
Though petrified wood is prohibited from being taken from the park, you can buy some at Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood. Once you depart the park’s South entrance, you take a right on US-180 toward Holbrook. You can’t miss Jim Gray’s as there isn’t much else until you see it. We pulled into their large parking lot and entered their building. There are all kinds of petrified wood here along with other local items. The larger pieces of polished petrified wood can get very expensive and some are in cases. Out back they have some rougher pieces that are cheaper. We settle on a smaller piece that still looks like wood on its exterior but has beautiful colors inside.
Summary
We loved Petrified Forest National Park. The Rainbow Desert section of the park has some scenic overlooks. And the 28 mile scenic road that goes through the park has a dozen stops along the way. We stopped at every one, and were able to see the whole park in half a day. What is great about the scenic road is most stops are just off the road and have paved parking lots. And most sights are short walks from the parking lots, but some also have short trails. This is a great park for a family to enjoy and not feel rushed to do everything in a day. We got to see beautiful desert views, petroglyphs, dinosaur fossils and lot of petrified wood. We would love to return when Becky can hike and explore more of Petrified Forest National Park!