In early and the mid 20th century, a lot of Route 66 vacationers would have stopped to see the wonders of the Petrified Forest National Park, and today it’s still a must-see stop for any Route 66 traveler.
The entrance to Petrified Forest National Park is Exit 311 on I-40, about 25 miles east of Holbrook, Arizona. There is just one road, so you can’t get lost!
Our first stop was the Tawa Point pull-off, where we parked and took the ½-mile Painted Desert Rim Trail. Here we could see a spectacular portion of Arizona’s Painted Desert.
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| View of the Painted Desert looking east from the Painted Desert Rim Trail |
The Painted Desert is a “badlands” with rock formations in amazing colors. From the Painted Desert Rim Trail you can see the Painted Desert for miles to the east and north, well beyond the park boundary.
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| View of the Painted Desert looking north from the Painted Desert Rim Trail |
The Painted Desert Rim Trail ends at the Painted Desert Inn .
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| Painted Desert Inn |
First built in the early 1920s as a restaurant and shop, the Painted Desert Inn was acquired by the National Park Service in the 1930s and rebuilt in Pueblo Revival style. In the 1940s, the Fred Harvey Company began managing it, and in 1947 Mary Jane Colter designed a renovation of it. (My post on Winslow, Arizona, tells more about the Fred Harvey Company and Mary Jane Colter.) The Painted Desert Inn closed in 1963 and was almost demolished in the 1970s. But it was restored in 2006 and is now a museum.
We walked back to our car at the Tawa Point pull-off and continued our driving tour. Our next stop was the Nizhoni Point pull-off vista, where we saw more beautiful views of the Painted Desert.
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| View of the Painted Desert looking north from Nizhoni Point |
About half a mile past Nizhoni Point is the Lacey Point pull-off vista, with more great views looking north.
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| View of the Painted Desert looking north from Lacey Point |
About a mile after Lacey Point is an essential stop for Route 66 enthusiasts: a pull-off where Route 66 once crossed the park. A 1932 Studebaker has been installed as a tribute to those who drove Route 66 here in the early 20th century.
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| 1932 Studebaker marking Route 66 in Petrified Forest National Park |
We continued about 5 miles south to the turnoff for Newspaper Rock.
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| Newspaper Rock |
There’s an overlook here that looks down over many rocks. It took us a little time—and the zooms on our phone cameras—to find Newspaper Rock, but the search was worth it. The rock is covered with 650 petroglyphs up to 2000 years old.
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| The Tepees in Petrified Forest National Park |
About a mile and a half past the Tepees is a left turn onto a short detour called the Blue Mesa Loop. I highly recommend taking the time to drive this! We thought this was among the most stunning scenery of the entire park. We especially loved the overlook just past the Blue Mesa Trailhead parking lot.
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| View from Blue Mesa overlook, looking northeast |
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| View from Blue Mesa overlook, looking north |
So far we hadn’t seen much petrified wood, but after the Blue Mesa Loop that started to change. About 2 miles past the Blue Mesa Loop is one of the most interesting pieces of petrified wood in the park: the Agate Bridge.
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| Agate Bridge in Petrified Forest National Park |
I first saw Petrified Forest National Park as a child, and I
confess that I was disappointed that it’s not really a forest. Trees grew here
200 million years ago, when there was a lot more water in this region. The
trees fell over in floods, were washed downstream, and eventually covered with
silt. Over the years, the tree trunks absorbed minerals from silt surrounding
them, the tree cells disintegrated, and the minerals eventually replaced the
tree’s own cells. Today the park has chunks of what look like logs scattered
around, not standing trees. The Agate Bridge is one of these logs that happened
to end up spanning a gully. Today it’s supported with concrete.
Nearby is the Agate Bridge Contact Station. It was built in 1935 to provide sunshade for visitors viewing the Agate Bridge. It's recently been restored.
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| Agate Bridge Contact Station |
Just past the Agate Bridge is a turnoff for the Jasper Forest overlook. Jasper Forest has one of the highest concentrations of petrified wood in the park.
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| Jasper Forest in Petrified Forest National Park |
After Jasper Forest, we drove about 5 miles to our last stop in the park: the Rainbow Forest Museum, built in 1931.
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| Rainbow Forest Museum in Petrified Forest National Park |
The museum had very good exhibits on the petrified forest that helped us understand how it was created. If you're more interested in petrified wood than the Painted Desert, consider starting your visit to the park at the south end, with a visit here, then driving north toward I-40.
From the museum it was another 2 miles to the south entrance to the park. Here we turned right (west) on US 180 and took that into Holbrook,Arizona.
A couple of tips on making the most of a visit to Petrified Forest National Park:
- The park’s free trip planner
has great information to help you decide what to see and do.
- If you simply want to
drive through, with no stops, you can tour the park in about an hour. With
some short walks and stops at pull-offs and the Rainbow Forest Museum, we
spent about 3 hours.
- If you’re visiting in
summer and want to do any walking, take it easy and bring a hat,
sunscreen, and plenty of water. It's extremely hot in the summer, and there is virtually no shade in the park.
We visited on an October morning, and the weather was perfect.
- The only restaurant in a
25-mile radius is the Painted Desert Diner at the Visitor Center at the
park entrance off I-40. So, if you're spending significant time here, plan when and how you’ll eat. We spent the
night in Holbrook, ate breakfast there, backtracked to the park in the
morning, then returned to Holbrook for lunch.
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