Sandwiched between the Interstate 40 highway and 200 miles of absolutely nothing, Petrified Forest National Park is the strange whacky uncle of the National Park System, featuring miles of blue colored hills and piles of rainbow-colored wood.
What is Petrified Wood?
It’s a fair question and one I didn’t know the answer to until I made this fateful drive to Eastern Arizona.
Established as a National Monument in 1906 by Teddy Roosevelt and later a National Park in 1961 by JFK, this Park stands as one of the largest guardians of Petrified Wood- a strange natural process in which regular wood becomes fossilized (almost crystal-like) and turns different colors:
This wood is actually quite rare, and while the Park Rangers fight to keep tourists from stealing the Wood from the park itself, shops all around the perimeter of the Park sell big logs of it for thousands of dollars.
Other than the wood, the Park has become known for its strange colored landscapes, including an area full of blue lined cliffs called the “Blue Mesa”:
Last and (probably) least is the famed Painted Desert, a small, red colored area located on the Northern side of the Park:
As you can tell by my post today, this Park is not very large and can be visited and hiked in under 4 hours. If you find yourself passing through Arizona on the 40 or are fascinated by Petrified Wood, it’s worth a look!
I am off to the Southern part of Arizona to visit the iconic Saguaro National Park- so long for now!
Cheers,
MB
Bonus Image:
