Petrified Forest Ntnl Park

Today I finally got to visit a National Park that I have skipped over many times in the past 3 years. While I have been in Arizona numerous times, I just hadn’t traveled along I-40 east of Flagstaff, so this time around I made sure of it.

I entered to park at the South entrance as I heard that there was a gift-shop there that allowed RV’s to camp for free in their lots. Sure there would be no electricity or water but it would be a safe place to stay a night or two… but I did not do either. Instead I rolled right on through, from the South entrance of the park, along the 28 miles of paved road, and exited the park through the North entrance that connects to I-40.

It was drizzling the entire day so I didn’t get to go out and explore and of the trails, but since the park was so empty this day it was easy enough for me to stop in the middle of the road to admire, and photograph, some of the sights. The petrified trees themselves were as expected, although few and far between… many were hauled away by visitors before the park became a National Park. Millions of tons of national treasures just picked up by average-Joe to sit on a bookshelf somewhere in Iowa or something.

What was not expected, and very captivating was the ‘badlands’… the hillsides that have been eroded over time into these spectacular cliffs and valleys full of color from the varying types of rock and dirt in each layer. It is unfortunate that the weather was so overcast as the camera could not pickup on all the colors; deep purples and reds striped these cliffs.

I’m pleased that I finally got to visit this park after skipping past it so many times. I’d have like to go out an hike some of the small trails to get a better feel for the “forest”… and next time I will.