The Petrified Forest with Friends

We last visited Petrified Forest National Park in 2017 during our year on the road. We spent four days exploring the park and if you want more stunning rainbow stone trees and color-banded badlands check out our previous blog post: Go Around the Bend: A Rainbow Forest and a Painted Desert. I loved it then and the second time around was all the more fun because we got to share it with friends. Yes, we met up again with Bob and Carole and Ruby! Oh, and in case you were wondering, the piña colada beer from Junkyard Brewery was a hit at happy hour! Lol.

Stone trees! 

We arrived on Wednesday, 4/26, at the Crystal Forest Gift Shop and RV Park which offers free camping (four night limit) right outside the south entrance to the National Park. We pulled in nose to tail so we could share patio space and this time we had nearly perfect weather. A pleasant change for sure. Still a bit windy at times, but it seems like that has been a recurring theme during this trip. At least we had sunshine and blue skies.

Check out the huge stumps of petrified wood in our campsite.

A cautionary tale. 'Nuff said. 😆

We hit the south entrance visitors center and did several of the shorter hikes, Giant Logs, Long Logs, and Agate House, on Wednesday afternoon. Stealing this quick primer on petrification (new word!) from my earlier blog. Lol. 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.

Giant Logs...

Loooooong Logs...

... and Agate House.

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.

Arizona Rainbow Petrified Wood comes by its name honestly!

I love all the rocks, but I would really love for some of these to follow me home. Lol. 

I was delighted to learn that the trails in the park are dog-friendly, so we set out with the pups on Thursday, 4/27. We stopped first at the 1-mile Crystal Forest Trail, but it was full sun and Riley was not excited about walking on a paved trail past more rocks. Lol. We cut that one short and opted to try the Jasper Forest Trail, which is longer, but with more opportunities to get off the beaten track. We found a place to give them some off-leash play, but the sunshine, which I was so happy to see, really takes a toll on the big kids. Even Ruby was searching out any little bit of shade she could find. So we cut our hike short again.

On the Crystal Forest Trail.

The ground is littered with petrified wood along the Jasper Forest Trail.

A petrified log on a plinth.

The puppers were not enthusiastic about the hike.
Even Ruby was looking for any scrap of shade.

At least this guy was enjoying the sunshine!

Loved the lime green lichen on the logs.

Bob and Carole back at parking lot.
Ruby is ready for the air conditioned car. Lol.

We made a brief stop at the Agate Bridge and then decided it made the most sense to take the kids back to the RV.  We hung out there with them for a few hours, they were content to chill and play in shade. When we left, they were much happier taking a nice nap in the coach. Spoiled much?

Agate Bridge.

Riley, Raney and Ruby - playtime on the patio!

Later in the afternoon, we drove to the north end of the park stopping at several of the overlooks. The north side of the park is called the Painted Desert, a spectacular area of colorful badlands. It has little to none of the petrified wood that the south end of the park, the Petrified Forest, is known for. Even though the region is semi-arid, water shapes the landscape. Heavy summer monsoons cause the erosion that forms the badlands. The multi-colored bands were caused by oxidation of the original river sediment. Bentonite clay is one of the main components of these formations, it swells as it absorbs moisture, then shrinks and cracks as it dries giving the hills a wrinkled elephant-skin look.

While the views from each of the overlooks were very different, they were all stunningly beautiful.

Friday morning we headed to the north side of the park again, this time to visit the Painted Desert Inn and the Visitor’s Center Complex, which were both closed by the time we got there yesterday. The Visitor Center had exhibits on paleontology, archeology, and geology. There was also a gift shop and small diner with Indian Fry Bread, yum!

Making friends. 

The Painted Desert Inn was originally built in the early 1920’s out of petrified wood as a roadside tourist attraction and called the Stone Treehouse. Unfortunately, it was built on an unstable seam of bentonite clay causing the foundation to shift and walls to crack.  In the early 1930s, the park purchased the property. Due to its structural problems and the popularity of Pueblo Revival Style in the 1930s, the inn was redesigned by the National Park system.

The original Stone Treehouse.
Photo: Petrified Forest Museum Association

The work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the inn reopened for business on July 4, 1940 suppling Route 66 travelers with meals, souvenirs, and lodging. WW II ended the good times and the inn closed in October 1942. Five years later the Painted Desert Inn reopened under the renowned Fred Harvey Company. Fred Harvey partnered with the Santa Fe Railroad in 1876 and his facilities for travelers were well known for comfort and quality. The Harvey Company made further renovations to the inn and hired Fred Kabotie, a renowned Hopi artist, to paint murals on the dining room and lunchroom walls.

The CCC at work transforming the Stone Treehouse into the Painted Desert Inn.
Photo: National Park Service

The Painted Desert Inn today.

Carole told me about the Harvey Girls, which I had never heard of before. The company recruited women from towns and cities in the East and Midwest. These young ladies had to be of good moral character, have at least an eighth-grade education, display good manners and be neat and articulate. Their contract stipulated that they could not marry and must abide by all company rules during the term of employment. If hired, the women were given a rail pass to their place of employment, a smart uniform, good wages, and room and board. Since their beginning in the 1880s, the Harvey Girls have become American legends. The inn even has a movie poster featuring Judy Garland and Angela Landsbury in “The Harvey Girls”! Movie night!!

Inside the Painted Desert Inn. 
Check out the movie poster!

Severe structural damage to the inn forced the Fred Harvey Company to move to the newly completed visitor center complex in 1963. The inn’s doors closed and it was scheduled for demolition in 1975. Due to a public campaign to save the Painted Desert Inn, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The Inn functions only as a museum now with displays highlighting its fascinating history, Route 66, and the CCC. The views of the surrounding Painted Desert are just stunning.

View of the Painted Desert from the inn.

Speaking of Route 66, the place where it once went through the park
 is marked with a 1932 Studebaker.

We also did the one-mile hike through the Blue Mesa. This has to be one of my favorite areas - you get both colorful badland formations and pertrified wood! What a great combo. No point trying to describe it, so here are some pictures although they just don't do it justice. 

Gorgeous striped badlands and lots of petrified wood too!

What a stunning area to explore.

More scenes from the Blue Mesa hike.

Can you read the fine print on the sign at the trailhead?
"Please be in your vehicle by 7:00PM...or hungry coyotes might eat you." Lol.

If you know me, you know I love rocks and all that gorgeous Arizona rainbow petrified wood just sets my inner crow to twitching. Unfortunately, picking it up in the park is a no-no and purchasing it in the many gift and rock shops is prohibitively expensive. In 2017, Rog found Dobell’s Ranch where we filled a 5-gallon bucket with petrified wood for $30. We went back with Bob and Carole and it was a bit of an adventure. Lol. The young guy, Noah, who lives there and runs the place is super nice, but he just doesn’t seem to have the funds for upkeep. It was looking pretty down in the heels with piles of junk, machines in various states of disrepair, and tools scattered everywhere. We couldn’t find anyone and were about to leave when Noah came out. He was still doing the bucket deal, but for $40 now. That’s close to 100 pounds of rock, what a screaming deal! 

Carole and I decided to share a bucket and we had a total blast digging through piles of petrified wood to find our favorite pieces. Even Bob and Rog contributed – they also got to carry the bucket. Lol. I forgot to take a picture of our haul and Bob and Carole graciously offered to tote it all home. Riley and Raney appreciated not having to share the limited space in the pupwagon with all that rock. Lol. We also drove into Holbrook to check out Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Company. I spent more there than I did at Dobell’s Ranch and carried my purchase out in my pocket. Lol. We also drove through the parking lot of the Wigwam Village Motel. What a kick seeing all the old cars parked outside the teepees. Apparently, this was a small motel chain in the 1930’s and 40’s and three of the seven motels are still in business. How fun is that?

This tiny petrified wood marble cost more than my share of the 5-gal bucket. Lol.

Wigwam Village Motel.

We were sad to part ways with Carole and Bob on Saturday, 4/29, but they were going north while we were heading west. We had several stops lined up with the goal of making it to Sacramento to visit Rian and then to Redding, to see Rog’s mom. We’re keeping our plans, both route and timing, flexible since it looks like our friend the wind is baaaack. Lol.