CU #6 – Petrified Forest National Park
April 17, 2022
Staying as long as I did in Winslow, Arizona, gave my wrist more time to heal and strengthen and me time to take in more sights in the area. About an hour’s drive east of Winslow, is Petrified Forest National Park. I definitely wanted to spend some time there
I drove by the cities of Holbrook and Joseph City. It wasn’t until I wrote my blog about Winslow State Park and the Mormon settlement that I learned that Joseph City is the only Mormon settlement city of the four started on the Little Colorado River that survived and prospered. 🤔 Therefore it is the oldest Mormon settlement in Arizona. That’s quite a history.
Layout of the Park
The scenic road through the Petrified Forest National Park is 28 miles long and can be entered through a visitor center on the North side as well as one on the South side.
It really is important to stop at the Visitor Center before entering into the park. The information and handouts that they have available are extremely helpful. Like this great map I used. All of the photos and information in this blog take place at the very top of the map before Interstate 40 crosses the park.
I spent two days at Petrified Forest. It was about a 45-minute drive for me to get there and I took quite a bit of time at the Visitor Center the first day, so I did not get very far into the park. There are a lot of pull-outs and scenic sights throughout and they really are worth the stop. I was fortunate in that I was always able to get a parking spot. Because of the light traffic, I could slow down or even stop in the middle of the road to take photos! 😅 There were multiple parking areas and lookouts for each scenic area. Plenty of room for everyone. The Petrified Forest closes at 6:30 p.m. . You had to be on your way out of the park by that time. Park rangers would patrol the road and discourage people from making any more stops. The Visitor Center’s closed at 4:30 p.m.
I entered off of Interstate 40 at the Painted Desert Visitor Center. At the time the Visitor Center was undergoing remodeling/construction. So you had to take a circuitous path to the back, past the gift shop, to get to it’s current location.
I think a number of people who were in a hurry, stopped at the first building thinking it was the visitor center but it was really a very nice gift shop. 😬 If they didn’t go further they never did get the information that was really helpful. Farther back there is also an on-site archaeologist. You could watch through the window as she was working under a microscope to remove the clay particles from the Azendohsaurus. It’s a relatively new species that has been discovered in Madagascar previously. I think this is the only place in North America that it has recently been discovered to have lived. So it’s a pretty big deal!
Painted Desert
The first areas I stopped at were overlooks of the beautiful Painted Desert. I always thought the Painted Desert was a separate Park by itself, but it seems to be part of the Petrified National Park.
As you know, photos cannot do scenery like this justice. But this is pretty close. I enjoyed the view and the many colors.
The path…🤔
I noticed there was a path out along the crest of some hills and into the desert. That was interesting. I enjoy looking AT beautiful scenery, but I would much rather be out IN it. I walked further along to the very end of the parking lot trying to follow the path back to it’s beginning. I noticed the “social path” through the grass out towards the hills. 🤔 I also noticed a young man out on it. Should I go out there, too? Was it a path they really didn’t want you walking on? Oh hell, what are they going to do to me and who is going to do it? I’m going to go out there!! 😃 ( After I was coming back on the path, I met people coming out on it, specifically a woman and her teenage daughters. They told me when they saw me out there they definitely wanted to go, too!! 😬 ” We’re only going to be here once”… They laughed.) Look what I started! 🙄
Since I was walking on a path that is not heavily traveled, I kept my eyes out for lounging snakes. Fortunately for some, but unfortunately for me, I didn’t see any. 😕 It was a really nice walk, and except for the one gentleman leaving the path, I had it to myself. It’s so nice to walk and look around at such beauty at my own pace and enjoy the quiet.
The following photos were taken from the end of the path, a little deeper into the desert.
Another Path…😃
Drive, get out and enjoy the view, take pictures, get back in the car and drive to the next overlook. That sounds so typically touristy…. even though there is much to see and that’s all you can do! Until …you find another social path!! 😉
This path was not long and it was much more challenging, but it had beautiful views of parts of the valley that you could not see from the rim.
All of these beautiful areas of the Painted Desert are within the first two miles of the entrance! It’s just one point after another. What I did not stop at was the Painted Desert Inn which is a historical landmark. I just decided I wanted to see the scenery instead and would take that in later if I had time. As it turned out, I never did
I got back to the truck and started heading further into the Petrified Forest. I definitely was driving through grasslands at this point.
Route 66
Initially, Route 66 once cut right through the park and is kind of a big deal.
I will now be traveling through the rest of the Painted Desert down to the Petrified Forest. I will pick this up in the next blog and will merge my 2 days worth of pictures together.
I hope you enjoyed my attempt to take you along on my exploration of the Painted Desert! 😊