When people think of exploring the national parks in Arizona, I can almost bet money on the park that is most thought of. The Grand Canyon. However, did you know that Arizona is home to two other national parks? One being the Petrified Forest and the other the Saguaro national park.
I haven’t made it down to the Saguaro national park yet, but I have only been in Arizona for a few weeks. Give me some time!
Let’s talk about the Petrified Forest national park and how I would spend a day exploring this area.
Located about 3.5 hours northeast from Phoenix, this park is like a two for one special. It displays an ecosystem that is over 200 million years old while also housing some incredible native artifacts. It is also special in the sense that it is the only national park to contain a segment of the Historic Route 66.
Covering more than 221,000 acres of land, this area was deemed a national park in 1962. This park is home to one of the most continuous sections of the Triassic-aged rocks anywhere in the world. These rocks were deposited by huge rivers somewhere between 208 and 225 million years ago.
Think about that. Over 220 MILLION years ago.
I thought last week was a long time ago.
The name Petrified Forest comes from the scattered remains of trees that have since turned into stone. I honestly have never seen such a natural phenomenon before in my life. Long ago, there were trees in this area that died, were washed into a river system, formed logjams and buried sediment. Minerals including silica dissolved from volcanic ash were absorbed into the porous wood over hundreds and thousands of years. At the cellular level, the organic material was replaced with crystalized structures.
The colors that you see within the petrified wood now is indicative of the trace minerals that can be found within. For example, pure quartz is white, manganese oxides from blue, purple, brown and black and iron oxides provide the coloring of yellow, brown, red and black.
Pretty interesting.
Now that I have piqued your interest, here is how I would spend my ideal day at this national park.
If you are traveling from the Phoenix area, it is likely that you will enter the park through the southern entrance so I will start my recommendations in that order.
I would suggest stopping at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitors Center. It provides you with a warm welcome to the park, interesting history and artifacts and you can pick up a map and stamp your national park passport!
From there you have access to three different trails: Giant Logs, Long Logs and Agate House. All three are short so you could do all three, but I would highly suggest taking the Long Logs and Agate House trails.
The Long Logs trail is a 1.6-mile loop and is one of the largest concentrations of petrified wood in the park. This is an easy rated trail and can be done at the same time as Agate House as the first half mile of the trails are the same.
Agate House was believed to be an eight-room house that was occupied about 700 years ago. The size and structure of this home indicate that it was likely a year round residence for a single family. This structure is a great example of the Puebloan people using the petrified wood in their backyard as tools for their daily use. The trail to see the Agate House is 2 miles in length and is rated as easy.
From here, you will get on the Main Park Road and will have opportunities to stop at numerous lookout points but your next stop should be at the Blue Mesa. Here you can hike into the mesa itself. This is a 1-mile loop that is a mixture of paved and gravel trail. This one is easy outside of the steep grade when descending into the mesa. On this trail, you have the opportunity of hiking among the badland hills of the blue colored bentonite clay.
Continuing on the main park road, if you are up for another hike, I highly suggest stopping to hike the Historic Blue Forest Trail. A 3-mile loop trail. The trailhead is located at The Teepees Pullout, there was no trail marker but with the use of your AllTrails application, you should be able to follow the trail. The first half of the trail follows an old road and is relatively flat.
Once you reach the end of the original road, you will find a wooden post indicating where to continue your hike. Once you make it up the switchbacks, start looking for the remnant gravel used by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which will be the path that you follow as you make your way over the mesa ridges. The views throughout the duration of the hike are incredible and change at every turn you make.
You should note that while this trail is not elevation difficult, the texture of the clay and the drops on the side of the mesa ridges cause this trail to be more challenging. I suggest wearing shoes with great traction and recommend skipping this one if there has been recent rainfall.
The descent takes place through a wash that was difficult to find. Using the downloaded versions of the trail, we were able to ensure that we were staying on target. If you find that you are struggling to find this portion of the trail, have no fear, turn around and go back the way you came, making this an out and back trail instead.
Next stop should be at the Newspaper Rock. At this overlook, you can view two boulders with over 650 petroglyphs on display. Truly a historical newspaper, hence the name. The rock art is believed to be left by the ancestral Puebloans, possibly also Basketmakers. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, you should be sure not to miss this viewpoint.
Getting back on the main road you will then encounter Puerco Pueblo, the only ancestral Puebloan village that is easily accessible to the public. This site is culturally significant to the Hopi and Zuni people. It is thought that these ruins were once home to some 200 people. Rooms were believed to be for living quarters and storage while the plaza housed activities such as cooking and craft making. One important thing to note, there were no doors or windows in the plaster-covered exterior walls of the pueblo. Meaning that entry into this village was by ladder over the wall and across the mud roofs.
Your last stop before exiting the park should be at the Route 66 pullout. As I had mentioned before, this national park is the only national park to contain a segment of the historic Route 66. This was a major highway created in 1926 spanning from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California.
Whether you have a few hours of an entire day, if you are on a road trip through Arizona, this national park should certainly make the list of stops!
