frosty
This park is managed as more of a preserve than many others. There are strict rules about moving (and Heaven forbid taking) any objects from the park so visitors are required to stay on the short trails at several turnoffs and overlooks and not venture into other parkland. Because of this, most of the park, and not just the high points, can be seen in a day. The south visitor center has a short loop trail with some of the largest logs in the park. Most of the turnouts were worth the stop, especially Long Logs, Crystal Forest, and Blue Mesa Trails
The petrified logs are remnants of extinct conifers from a Triassic rainforest, 225 million years ago, when Arizona was part of the single continent of Pangea and was just north of the equator. Rivers flooded and moved trees, and logs and sediment covered them. Groundwater rich in silica and minerals replaced the organic elements. Subsequently, continents moved, land uplifted, climate changed, and erosion exposed the petrified trees.
Most of the National Park is in the Painted Desert, a high desert with elevations around 5,000 feet. The most scenic part is north of I-40. We stopped at several overlooks, along with other turnouts and trails off of the park road. The colors come from iron and manganese, the same elements that colored the petrified wood.
This area is the only part of the park where visitors are permitted to leave roads and graded trails. It’s a wilderness, with no defined trail other than the switchbacks to get down off the rim to the desert floor.
On The Road – frosty – Petrified Forest National ParkPost + Comments (17)
Crystal Forest Trailhead. All the trails were either paved or gravel.