A Rainbow Forest and a Painted Desert

Mother Nature must have been in a colorful mood when she produced the iconic elements of the Petrified Forest National Park. The park has two distinct areas – at the north end is the Painted Desert, an area of badlands so perfectly striped with purples, pinks, and red that it looks airbrushed. About 20 miles away at the south end of the park is the Rainbow Forest – the largest concentration of exposed petrified wood in the world. And not just any wood, but Arizona Rainbow Wood that totally lives up to its name and is found nowhere else. In between are pueblo ruins, petroglyphs, and a bunch of fantastic vistas.

The Teepees formation in the Painted Desert.

Arizona Rainbow Petrified Wood - Do you believe me now? :) 

One of the nice things about this national park is that all of the highlights are within easy walking distance on paved paths. For those so inclined (yes, we were), you can also get off the beaten path and wander through the wilderness for as far and as long as you like, even longer if you get lost (yes, we did). Lol.  I have to say the only downside, and one I totally understand, is that you can’t take any rocks home. Arrrrrrrrgh. After the fun of searching and being able to pocket your treasures at Rockhound State Park, that was a real trial. However we did find a way around it – but more on that later. 😊    

There are two gift shops/museums just outside the south entrance to the park that offer free camping for up to four nights. There are no hookups, but you could literally throw a rock (or piece of petrified wood) and hit the entrance gate. The closest campground with hookups is about 30 miles away, so we were thrilled to find free camping this close to the park. Of course, to make sure it was a win-win I spent a few $$ at the gift shop, a sacrifice I was willing to make. Lol.

We arrived on Sunday, 3/26, and after getting settled in decided to start at the south end of the park at the Rainbow Forest visitor’s center. Right outside the visitor’s center, the Giant Logs Trail is a paved path that winds through a veritable forest of huge, petrified logs. The colors are fantastical. I cannot describe how incredibly beautiful it is. We also visited the Agate House (a pueblo structure actually built out of petrified wood!), and did the Crystal Forest and Long Logs Trails.

Giant Logs Trail.

Agate House

Huge logs, many still partially buried dot the landscape.

Lots of spots to enjoy the desert view.

One of the things that just amazed us was how some of the petrified logs still look just like trees – you can see the bark, the knots, and some varieties look so wood-like you’d think with a little work you could get a campfire going. But others – just wow! The rainbow wood really has all the colors of a bright, vibrant rainbow – in a stone tree! How cool is that?  

The variety is astounding - both the light colored "wood chips" and the dark red and yellow agate are petrified wood.

So a quick primer on how this all happened. About 216 million years ago, these trees died and fell into a river. They were buried under layers of silt, mud, sand and volcanic ash, which protected them from decay. Mineral-laden ground water percolated through the layers carrying silica from the volcanic ash and other trace minerals. The absorbent dead wood became saturated and slowly, over time the silica, or quartz crystals bonded with the cells of the tree replicating the organic material in perfect detail. Eventually, silica completely replaced the wood and BAM! you have a stone tree.

The colors depend on the minerals that soaked into the wood along with the silica. Iron minerals produce bright yellow, orange, deep red, ochre, and black. Manganese minerals cause blue, purple, brown, and can create fernlike patterns. Other minerals may also be present – and of course, there are the awesome quartz crystals.

Looks pretty much like a log on the outside...

... but the inside is full of sparkly goodness.

Another thing that surprised us was just how much petrified wood there is. The park is trying to counter a narrative that most of the wood has been carried off by tourists or scavengers (hmmm… was that redundant?). So they are taking old photos from the early days of the park in the 1920’s and reshooting them from the same perspective to show that little has actually changed.  I can certainly attest to the overwhelming amount of petrified wood that is everywhere! Especially, if you get down into the canyons and ravines -  it is all over the place. Big logs, chunks, and tiny shards litter the ground. And it’s all so pretty, my inner crow was going wild. Lol.

The Jasper Forest - petrified wood as far as you can see. 

On Monday, we opted to drive to the north end of the park and start with the Painted Desert visitors center and the Painted Desert Inn. The vistas at this end of the park are beautiful.

The Painted Desert.

Painted Desert Inn.

Lovely view from the Inn.

We wanted to do a wilderness hike to find the Onyx Bridge – a huge petrified log that spans a gully. Rog pulled directions off the internet, go left from the Painted Desert Inn, follow the trail to the dry stream, go north, follow a small wash to the west, when it branches go left, when it branches again go right, climb a rock fall, look to the right…. Sounded simple enough. Except once we hit the dry stream all the washes and rock falls looked alike. Lol. We climbed several thinking this must be the one. Nope. We saw lots of neat logs and rock formations, but figured out later we weren’t even close to the Onyx Bridge. Shoulda zigged right when we zagged left, I guess. Even so, it was a fun hike.

From the overlook it looked easy...

... but it looked pretty much the same from down here. Lol.

One of the many rock falls we climbed in search of the Onyx Bridge.

Found lots of huge logs, just not the one we were looking for. :)

Even the flowers are eye-popping red - guess they have to compete with the rocks. :)

Another aspect of this park is its proximity to the historic Route 66. It used to run right through the park before it was abandoned and rerouted. They’ve placed an old Studebaker along the route and you can still see where the old roadbed ran.

An old Studebaker and telephone poles mark the original Route 66.

We also stopped to look at the some pueblo ruins, there used to be a large village here. One of the more fascinating artifacts is called, “Newspaper Rock.”  It is a huge boulder with over 600 petroglyphs etched into it!

Newspaper Rock.

Tuesday was rainy and windy so we took a day off from the park and amused ourselves with a visit to the huge, and completely amazing, Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Company in Holbrook. It’s like a rock shop super store! Outside there are acres (not exaggerating!) of petrified wood, huge stacks of all kinds of rocks, and mountains of geodes. Inside are incredible specimens of polished petrified wood, a vast array of stones, fossils, minerals and stone home décor items – everything from tables and chairs to bookends! But the thing you really have to see is his private collection, which is truly museum worthy. If you ever get to Holbrook, you gotta check it out. I picked up a few small pieces of uncut stone, but at $2 a pound, it adds up fast. Rock is heavy! I snapped a few pictures with my phone, thinking I’d be back, but we didn’t make a return trip. (My bank account is happier for it. 😊)

All the rocks!!!

Wednesday was our last day in the park and we finished up with a drive through the Blue Mesa area. It comes by its name honestly, the blues and purples were outstanding. We also stopped by Agate Bridge – this one was a short stroll from the parking lot so we didn’t get lost! Lol. 

Blue Mesa

The 110 foot long Agate Bridge. A concrete support was added in 1917, however today the park's philosophy is to let nature take its course so eventually the supports will erode and it will fall.

Our last hike was really just play time in the Jasper Forest. One of the park rangers recommended this area and it was a blast. It probably had the highest density and greatest variety of any area in the park. So much fun! 

I love how you can see the knots and texture of the original tree.

The land is slowly eroding so it looks like this hunk is on a pedestal.

So pretty!!!!

Rog taking a break on huge log.

Our final outing was to a little rock yard a few miles from the park. Dobell’s Ranch is now run by Noah, the grandson of the original proprietor who started selling petrified wood collected on private property to tourists in the 1930’s. I was poking around and asked how he priced, by the piece or by the pound. He handed us a 5-gallon bucket and said put as much in as you can for $30. OMG! The hunt was on! We filled the bucket and I got a couple of polished pieces and a set of bookends – all for a fraction of the cost at the fancier gift shops/rock yards. The poor mule really will be rolling tail down now.  All I can say is that if there was an easy way to transport several tons of rock from Arizona to Washington, Rog would be a poorer man. Lol.

Spectacular Arizona sunset.

The good news is we pull out early Thursday so I’ll be leaving temptation behind. The forecast is for another cold front, this one with high winds and possible snow!  We weren’t able to get into the campground at the Grand Canyon so we decided go to Williams, AZ to wait out the storm. We’ll take the train down to the Grand Canyon for a day trip. Yeah, it’s touristy but it should be fun.