My travels in life had always been somewhat limited. Sure, there was the day or weekend family trip to the Jersey shore here and there. There was, when my parents could afford it on two occasions, a week-long family vacation at the end of the school year (once to Myrtle Beach, N.C and once to Williamsburg, VA and Busch Gardens). And there was the time when my parents, possibly and seemingly trying to provide for us a vacation that would make up for the years we went without, got all crazy and planned a two-week getaway with another family. That one was my first and only trip outside the United States. We went on a romp through parts of Canada after seeing Niagara Falls.
But other than that, there wasn’t much by way of travels. Even when I found myself afforded the freedom that came along with having a license and my own car, I somehow didn’t seem to put it to good use in that way. Travel seemed to elude me.
Then came the summer of 2006...
"Old Faithful", Petrified Forest National Park
As a result of the booming Bush economy (thanks, George!), and after nearly a decade of working my ass off for a wealthy financial services corporation, I found myself laid off for the first time in my life. Dispensed with quicker than you could say “Here, AIG, take these troubled assets off our hands!”. And ditching those troubled assests to AIG is precisely what the company did. But not before ditching me and hundreds more of my fellow easily-dispensable former co-workers. Many of them were in worse-off situations than I. And, at times, I actually found myself feeling terrible about not being anxious or sour or a little angry about it the way some were. I was actually looking forward to it. I just couldn’t wait. I was about to use the time off to take advantage of an invitation to go on a cross-country drive for a national parks tour with a couple friends, something that would be entirely new to me... but which they had done before.
Leaving early on that last day of work so we could get a head start, I was looking forward to get some travels and sights and new experiences under my belt. We pushed off from New Jersey and set out on our way. We didn't stop until about 24 hours later. Amarillo, TX. We spent a night before pushing off in the morning, eventually arriving in eastern Arizona for our first national park stop among many.
But it was my first national park visit ever. As a result, and while it's not necessarily my favorite N.P. thus far, it holds a special place in my heart.
The first thing I thought to myself upon arriving at Petrified Forest National Park was “weird, this just seemed to appear out of nowhere”.
And it does.
”With one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of over 200-million-year-old fossils, this is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science.”
If you’re traveling cross-country and passing through this area, you’re likely to be traveling on I-40 (that’s the route this diary will take on the tour). And if you weren’t aware of its existence prior to passing through, or made aware by the signs, you’d probably never know that the beautiful, baffling wonders of Petrified Forest National Park are just on the other side of that hill alongside you. You exit the I-40, head up the ramp, make a turn, and… poof! You’re at Petrified Forest National Park.
Fast Facts:
-- The first documented finding of petrified wood in the area was in 1851, by Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves
-- Petrified wood weighs an average of 175 pounds per cubic foot
-- The park contains more than 50,000 acres of protected Wilderness area
-- More than 200 plant taxa are known from structures found in the formation
-- Park temperatures can range from over 100 degrees F to well below freezing
-- More than 7 species of amphibians, 17 species of reptiles, 20 species of mammals, 65 species of wildflowers, and 200 species of birds can be found in the park
Petrified Forest National Park was originally a small few stands of petrified wood protected when they, at the urging of his friend and acquaintance John Muir, were declared a National Monument in 1906 by Teddy Roosevelt, stating that:
“…the mineralized remains of Mesozoic forests…are of the greatest scientific interest and value and it appears that the public good would be promoted by reserving these deposits of fossilized wood as a National monument with as much land as may be necessary for the proper protection thereof.”
Twenty-six years later, an additional 50,000 acres was purchased and protected. It was later named a National Park by Congress in 1962. For a long period of time, the park consisted of about 93,000 protected acres. That is, until 2004 when I must give credit where it's due to the unelected President who signed a bill which more than doubled the size of the administrative boundaries of the park to just over 218,000 acres.
Petrified Forest National Park is probably best known for two main highlights: The Painted Desert and Petrified Wood. Though, there are numerous other gems to be seen. Some of these include such things as remnants of old pueblos and petroglyphs, which are just hints at human history here which dates back as far as 10,000 years or more.
It’s a history that only pales in comparison to the events on Pangea more than 200 million years ago during the Late Triassic. Revealing the results of those events was helped along some 60 million years ago, when tectonic forces pushed the Colorado Plateau upward, exposing the Chinle Formation (divided into members: Blue Mesa Member, Sonsela Member, Petrified Forest Member, Owl Rock Member) to erosion by the elements. That erosion has left many a sight to behold.
Before actually entering the park, take a stop by the Painted Desert Visitor Center located just outside of the entry gates. Here you can find a wealth of information about the park, including a 20-minute orientation film (showing every half hour). And just next to the visitor center is a gift shop for the souvenir lovers. Dying to take home a piece of hundreds of millions of years old wood? Patronize one of the nearby vendors and leave the park pieces for visitors to admire. After all, removal of pieces of petrified wood is a federal offense and comes with a stiff penalty, including jail time and heavy fines.
After paying the entry fee at the gate (vehicle visiting fee is $10, good for 7 days, but there are other options available at the parks fee schedule thingy), you’ll find yourself entering the northern portion of the park and approaching the first of many look-out points over the Painted Desert, known as “Tiponi Point”… where you are welcomed by warm reds mixed with pinks, whites and grays.
After a brief stop here, there are a number of other upcoming look-out points that provide wonderful overlooks of the beautiful expanses of this part of the Painted Desert. I would highly suggest taking in the sights and sounds while strolling along “Rim Trail”. You can access the trail by stopping at either one of the next two look-out points, “Tawa Point” and “Kachina Point”. The “Rim Trail” is a easy, one-mile loop between those two points. Whichever point you choose to leave from, be sure to take a stop by the Painted Desert Inn (a National Historic Landmark within the park) at “Kachina Point”.
After having a walk, it’s tempting to hop in the car and cruise by the next few look-out points (“Pintado”, “Nizhoni”, “Whipple”, and “Lacey” Points). But it’s worth taking a brief stop at each, as the view is constantly changing. And be sure to make a stop at the Historic Route 66 marker!
From there, it’s a short drive along the main park road (which is 28 miles in total length) as you begin heading toward the southern portion of the park, which runs along Puerco Ridge and passes through Rainbow Forest.
Mid-way through this short drive is a must-do, and it’s called “Puerco Pueblo”.
This site sports a short, easy, paved trail that takes visitors through the remains of a 100-room pueblo estimated by archeologists to have housed perhaps a couple hundred people and been built around the year 1200.
(Kiva: a room used for religious rituals or teachings)
Visitors begin to get a sense of the history contained within the pueblo, as nearly thousand year-old petroglyphs abound on the art-filled rock around them.
And for those craving more of this fabulous art, plenty more awaits you at the park’s next stop, “Newspaper Rock”. While the viewing is from a distance (requiring the use of binoculars or the spotting scopes provided at the overlook), the art is aplenty… with literally hundreds of petroglyphs etched into the wall of stone.
Take in as many as you can before moving on to the next area of the park, known as “The Tepees”. It is here in "The Tepees" area where the oldest rocks (dating back some 234 million years) in the Chinle Formation can be found in the park. This area gives visitors a taste of the beautiful grays, purples, and blues that await them at their next stop (should they choose to venture down the three-mile loop road through the badlands), in the next section of the park known as the “Blue Mesa”. This stop provides viewers another chance to take in the sites on foot as they walk along the one-mile loop that is “Blue Mesa Trail”. Though, be forewarned, this one is a bit more strenuous. However, you’ll find that the beauty of the blues and purples surrounding you makes it all worthwhile.
Returning to the park’s main road and continuing on toward the southern entrance will take visitors by “Agate Bridge” and “Jasper Forest” (a valley littered with petrified logs once encased in, now fallen from, the rocky bluffs around it).
It’s not long thereafter where visitors will begin to notice a changing of the blues and purples to the blacks, browns and grays which are colors common to the Sonsela Member layer of the Chinle Formation.
And those colors are a sign for visitors that they will soon arrive at the park’s next trail offering at “Crystal Forest”. This one is a paved, easy, three quarter-mile loop that takes visitors through a landscape of some of the most colorful pieces of petrified logs in the park, glistening and shining with the beauty of glass-like amethyst and quartz crystals still embedded in the wood.
Just look at that beauty. "Crystal Forest" is littered with these gems, and it makes for a somewhat populated trail walk. Don't let the crowds put you off. The walk is well worth it, and I highly recommend taking that stroll.
But the journey doesn’t end there.
There is one more stop for visitors to make at the south end of the park at Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center, which features interactive virtual tours as well as exhibits of the many fossils recovered from within the area of the park. This one here is from that trip in the summer of 2006, and it was the most recent recovery at the time.
The visitor center also shows the same 20-minute orientation film mentioned at the start, shown every half hour. Visitors can take in the film before leaving the visitor center for a walk on one of three trails that begin from this point. Two of the trails are connected, with one of them, “Agate House Trail” (ending at a partially-restored pueblo made of petrified wood which archeologists believe was occupied some 700 years ago) being accessed by beginning down the other, “Long Logs Trail” (a walk through one of the largest concentrations of petrified wood in the park before joining with Agate House Trail). Hikers considering these trails should prepare for a little more than a two-mile round trip.
For those preferring a shorter walk, I would highly suggest taking a walk on the last of the three, “Giant Logs Trail”, which begins directly from the back side of the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. This trail boasts one of the largest petrified logs in the entire park, “Old Faithful”, shown in the very first picture in the diary at the top of the fold. She’s grand, checking in at about 35 feet long and more than 10 feet in diameter! To give you some perspective, I’m just over six feet tall. This is me standing at the base of the main root.
What a giant! If you've entered the park at the north entrance, this beauty is a wonderful reward at the end of your journey. And that’s where the tour through the park (and this diary’s virtual tour of the park) ends. A short drive from the visitor center takes you to the park exit station (entrance station if you are doing the tour in reverse), before a drive along route 180 which returns you to the I-40.
I hope I’ve done the park at least a little bit of justice. Words can’t quite describe the beauty of it. Pictures don’t quite portray it either. And this tour is basically just a "scratching of the surface" for Petrified Forest National Park. There is surely more to be seen by getting off the beaten path and taking back country hikes, getting an up close and personal look at all the park has to offer.
You just have to get out there, and see it all for yourself!
Until next time…
This has been the fourth in a series of user contributed features on the national parks. Previous features have included Jackson Hole National Monument, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine and Capitol Reef National Park. Next week we have Scott in NAZ writing about Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks followed by a feature on Dry Tortugas National Park the week after. If you are interested in writing a feature about a park, please volunteer at our sign up form and as your window approaches, you'll be contacted (about 3 weeks before) to finalize your date.