After a night in the fascinating La Posada hotel in Winslow, Arizona (yes….) we headed east towards this destination.
Short stops along the way to get a quick breakfast, some snacks, gas, and to receive a welcome call from Kid #4 in Italy – who is doing well with his college study abroad.
The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park is within just a part of the large Painted Desert area of the state. There’s a 28-mile long road the runs vertically through the park, making it very easy to see. You just have to choose your starting point and direction. I went with north-south, because I wanted to end with the impact of the larger concentration of petrified wood in the southern part.
In reading the material the NPS puts out on the park, I was interested to see a remark along the lines of There’s a rumor out there that so much petrified wood has been pilfered from the park over the years that there’s hardly any left. This is not true!
That’s interesting to me because that actually has been my impression – I don’t know where I picked it up or how. In my subconscious, I definitely harbored the image of the Petrified Forest, stripped bare. So it seems putting this statement rather prominently in the NPS materials shows a) they’ve been doing market research and b) market research isn’t useless and c) I think like everyone else.
Further, what I discovered – and those of you who’ve been there or live in the area already know – there is, ahem, no lack of petrified wood outside the park. In fact, if your only goal is to see a lot of petrified wood in one place, you need only stop at one of the many souvenir shops on the way. Loads and loads and loads, gotten (I assume and hope) from outside the park boundaries. Which…just shows how extensive these ancient forests were.
We discovered very quickly that even within the park the petrified wood isn’t confined to the high-profile sites on the southern end.
We began, as I said, in the north, which is a small loop enabling you to take in the vista of the Painted Desert in an area in which reds predominate. My camera can’t capture the vividness of the colors, and I didn’t want to tweak it, so here you go. Just know that it’s worth seeing in person. We drove around, took in some sights from above, then did about an hour hike down from the Painted Desert Inn (closed, of course for Covid).
Then back in the car to head south, taking in most of the stops along the way.
Puerco Pueblo, and then Newspaper Rock, where there are petroglyphs visible.
The spectacular Blue Mesa, with a 1-mile hike down into the landscape.
And then the concentration of stopping points at which you can see massive fields of petrified wood, including enormous logs which fascinate because they both look like logs, but shimmer with stone. These aren’t the most spectacular examples, but they’ll do for now.
So yes, you can see stacks of petrified wood at the trading post, but seeing it in situ gives a better sense – if that’s possible – of the ancient landscape.
And, I’m very glad to say the museum – visitor’s center – the Rainbow Forest Museum was open, with no exhibits covered up with black plastic. Thank you.
After that, we made our way back west. Someone gave up fast food for Lent (among other things) and so once he discovered that there was a Culver’s on the way – a place he’d always wanted to try – that became dinner for him. (As we sat there, we found that there is actually a location in Hoover, not far from us at home. So….after Easter….)
Then down 89A to Sedona. I had read on the travel discussion board to not attempt this at night, especially if you are new to the area. I can absolutely see why. It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous drive up and down through a canyon, twisting and turning, and yeah, I was a little nervous as the sun seemed to be falling very fast…but of course that was only because we were in the canyon. It was fine – we got to Sedona before dark, but with the snow at the beginning of the route (cleared from the road, but still…) and then the switchbacks on the way, I was glad to arrive.
And here we are!
Charlotte was Both 