The Petrified Forest is in Arizona just off
the i40 on a side road leading off from Holbrook. The first fossil/petrified
rock shop/gallery is huge and has some amazing fossils on show as well as lots
of polished petrified wood made into whatever their imagination could come up
with. The wind from the previous day had reduced a lot and if you found a
protected spot in the sun, it was quite warm. My Allstays app showed that the
campground was in the southern section of the park. Just before the entrance
there are two shops selling polished petrified rocks and other nick knacks. One
of them told us that camping was $10.75 a night on both sides of the road,
while the other one said it was free but there were no facilities. The actual
sites were on the “free” side and it was probably once a thriving business with
shelters and tables on concrete pads. The electrical outlets were now non
functional but we don’t need power all the time.
Unfortunately, the park is only open from
7am to 7pm, outside the hours of sunrise and sunset, and the rangers enforce
it. Once in the park, the Giant Logs surround the visitor centre where you can
also see a documentary on the park. The area dates back to before the dinosaurs
and the area has many fossils. The water is undrinkable because it contains
sodium and iron, just some of the right ingredients to preserve fossils and
petrify the wood. Before the area became a national park people took thousands
of the petrified trees by the wagon load.
The first afternoon we explored the area around
the visitor centre, the Crystal Forest where we saw a green lizard sunning
itself on a piece of petrified wood. There is a good walking trail that takes
you around many examples of the petrified trees which are all laying on the
ground and look like someone has come in with a chainsaw and cut them all up.
Incidentally, I’m yet to see a real tree in the park. Next stop is the Jasper Forest
which apparently had a huge collection of the petrified wood but it has been
mostly removed. The Agate Bridge is a petrified log with the soil underneath
having been washing away. They reinforced it in the 1920’s with concrete
underneath to stop it from breaking; these days they would just let it fall.
Our last stop was the Blue Mesa, and area of badlands which is silted soil that
they likened to an elephants skin. We had been warned that the walk into this
area had a steep entrance and he wasn’t kidding, a few people didn’t even try
walking down but I’m glad we did.
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| Close up of the petrified tree |
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| green lizard on a petrified tree |
The woman at the shop had reminded us that
there was a moon eclipse, the blood moon that night at 10:30pm. After checking
the time on Google, Lindsay set the alarm for 12:30am as it was due at 12:45am,
she was only a few hours out. I had no intention of getting up as I knew it
would be freezing! He got some good shots, they aren’t sharp, but you get the
idea of what it looks like.
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| The Blood moon (moon eclipse) |
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| Pueblo village |
On our second day, we ventured further into
the park, visiting The Tepes (cone shaped formations with layers of iron,
carbon and manganese), Newspaper Rock (petroglyphs) and an ancient village
of the Pueblo at Puerco Pueblo, then up to the Painted Desert section of the
park and the Painted Desert Inn. Well worth coming to.
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| Newspaper Rock |
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| Painted Desert |
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