Petrified Forest National Park Is More than Petrified Wood… Much more

/ Curt Mekemson
We used to think of Arizona’s Painted Desert and Petrified Forest as two separate units even though they are located next to each other and are part of Petrified National Park: We went to see petrified wood in the Petrified Forest and colorful landscapes in the Painted Desert. In actuality, they are both part of the same geological unit: The Painted Desert. They both display colorful landscapes and they both feature petrified wood. This photo is from one of the overlooks in the Painted Desert section north of I-40. Colorful? Yes. But it also includes chunks and logs of petrified wood. A petrified log can be seen on the lower center left.
This is a section of Petrified Forest south of I-40 known as the Teepees. The colors are soft but close to otherworldly.
Visitors have the option of entering the National Park from its north or south entrance. Peggy and I chose the north which makes a loop north of I-40 through the Painted Desert following the historic Route 66. One of our first stops was at the Painted Desert Inn. It sits above the Painted Desert providing visitors with a superb view of the surroundings. Originally opened by a private entrepreneur in 1920, the National Park bought it in the mid-30s and rebuilt it in Neo-pueblo style using CCC workers.
Fred Harvey took over its management in the 40s utilizing the Harvey Girls to provide service to weary travelers. In 1947, the company’s architect, Mary Jane Colter, was brought on to remodel and renovate the facility. Today, it is a National Historic Site and museum, well worth a visit. The El Tovar Hotel and Desert View Tower of the Grand Canyon are among Colter’s many other notable projects.
A local raven was seeking handouts near the Inn.
I pointed out a nearby lizard and suggested that if he wanted food, he should hunt for it.
He squawked at me. Something about wanting to be paid with in PB&J sandwiches if I was going to use him as a model.
One of our favorite views of the Painted Desert.
Our good friends from Sacramento, Tom Lovering and Lita Campbell, joined us on our visit to the Petrified Forest National Park. Here, they are perched on a 1932 Studebaker that the Park has placed along the Route 66 segment to symbolize the historic journey travelers followed along the route. The old car now provides a photo op for tourists. BTW, Studebaker got his start in Placerville (aka Hangtown), 3 miles from where I grew up in the Sierra foothills, making wheelbarrows for miners seeking wealth in California’s 1849 Gold Rush.
Leaving the north side of I-40, we crossed over to the south side. Our first stop was at the Puerco Pueblo, a village built by Ancestral Puebloans and occupied between 1250 and 1380 CE. The pueblo had over 100 rooms at its peak. Located next to the Rio Puerco (Pig River), it had contacts from throughout the Ancestral Puebloan region and beyond. Artifacts and petroglyphs found at the site and nearby suggest these wide ranging connections.
The best known petroglyph next to the pueblo is a water bird, possibly a white faced Ibis, about to chow down on a frog. The round, white petroglyphs may represent water dripping down from the bird.
Numerous petroglyphs are found at the Petrified Forest’s Newspaper Rock located about a mile away from Puerco Pueblo.
The petroglyphs found at the site Include a wide variety of subjects.
The lower right section of the above series featured a naked man and woman. The ancients appear to have had few of the hang ups with nudity our modern society does. I thought of the woman saying, “Hi honey, I’m home.” As for the guy, apparently ‘size matters.’ We really liked the coyote on the right and immediately thought of Wile E Coyote and the Road Runner. The spiral above is thought to represent the journey of Ancestral Puebloans from the underworld in their search of a permanent home.

Peggy found several petroglyphs she might include in her next word search book— but don’t expect to find the naked couple.
Next we arrived at the Teepee mountains, which I showed in the second photo. The colorful, layered rocks are part of the Chinle Formation deposited during Triassic period between 205-227 million years ago. The colors are determined by minerals in the rocks and the conditions at the time at the time they were deposited. A side road south of the Teepees takes visitors into the Blue Mesa, which provides an up-close perspective on the Chinle Formation. We highly recommend it. The following photos show why.
Multiple colors,
Including white.
And interesting land formations.
Another example.
And tons of petrified wood. Perspective makes this log on a pedestal seem bigger than it is, but it is big! Broken off pieces surround the pedestal.
This brings us to the petrified wood section of our post. I used Tom for perspective in this and my next photo to demonstrate how large some of the logs are.
Tom appears tiny down at the end of this long, petrified log. Also, note the petrified bark that is still on the tree.
This big fellow was making its way down a hill. Timber!
One of the things fascinating about petrified wood is the variety of colors. They are created by different minerals that replace the wood in the petrification process. For example, red, brown and yellow come from iron oxide, white from silicon dioxide, black from carbon, blue and green from cobalt, chrome, and copper, etc.
Not sure what made the holes but look how rich the blue is. You can also see the bark here.
One can wander around for hours admiring the different logs.
There are hundreds of them.
A visit to the Rainbow Forest Museum concluded our visit. This large petroglyph of a mountain lion is one of the museum’s prime exhibits and serves as a symbol of the park. I have a T-shirt with it on the back.
I persuaded Tom to take his photo with the skeletal remains the museum’s phytosaur, a large crocodile like reptile from 225 million years ago. It’s known as Smiley. That’s a wrap for today. Next up: The crazy trees and fabulous rocks of Joshua Tree National Park.

21 thoughts on “Petrified Forest National Park Is More than Petrified Wood… Much more”

    • Thanks, John. The scenery is indeed spectacular, and the rock art is some of the most interesting we’ve seen. Looking forward to your China adventure. Looks like you have packed a lot in. What do they say, “one step at a time, or more appropriately, perhaps, “The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.” It worked for Mao, apparently.

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    • Beautiful stuff for sure. While one can’t gather it from the park, there are a lot of stores that sell it. I have some in our house. They are great at keeping books in their place!

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  5. Your photos show the colours so well. I especially loved the rainbows of rocks around the lizard. Your portraits of the raven were also marvelous. This entire post has outstanding photos. Well done, you two. It’s nice to see Tom again too.

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    • Weren’t those rocks around the lizard, amazing. Petrified Forest is such a great example of beauty in the desert, like Death Valley. I can never get enough. Thanks, Crystal. And Tom always adds to any experience.

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  8. So many treats! The log that looks like it’s making its way, snakelike, down the hill, reminds me of the pull toys we had as kids: the segments held together with string.

    I especially like the first end view of the petrified logs, too. The pattern reminds me of a cut geode, or a broken chert nodule. I like the lizard, too. Its pebbly surface resembles the rocks surrounding it.

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    • As I recall, they were Choo Choo trains but the recollection may be colored my love of trains at the time. I don’t know if you recall the bear pulling its babies from Burning Man, but also similar. Good observation.
      A lot of beauty there, no doubt about it, Linda. Another blogger commented on the colored rocks with the lizard as well.

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  9. Wow, what amazing colors and it kind of is about the petrified wood and amazing perspective, it appears, Curt. So amazing and I the squawking Raven, talking back and of course you schooling the lizard. Those stones he was on were exquisite. How fun to travel with friends that are willing to be your photo guinea pigs! Oh I’m certain Peggy will have a field day with the petrified images!
    This looks like a keeper to be added to my list!
    💕

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