As a kid, on our family road trip to the Grand Canyon we completely bypassed Petrified Forest National Park. My dad had driven through as a kid and told us that it was simply a drive with random chunks of rock trees along the road. Nothing especially special… What we could’ve used then was a Petrified Forest National Park Guide to tell us just how cool this national park actually is. It’s not on the same level as the big guys like Yellowstone and Arches National Parks, but it’s still absolutely beautiful and worth visiting.
Petrified Forest National Park Guide – The Quick Info
LOCATION: Petrified Forest National Park is located just off I-40 in Arizona near the New Mexico Border.
ENTRANCE FEE: non-commercial visitors pay $25/car, $15/person on foot or bicycle or $20/motorcycle
If you’re a person who likes to frequent national parks and monuments, I highly recommend the $80 America the Beautiful annual pass.
THINGS TO DO IN THE PARK: Hiking, bicycling, scenic drives and museums/historical sites!
GETTING AROUND PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK: Petrified Forest road runs linearly through the park. The only true “turn off” that takes another road of any length within the park is to Blue Mesa, which is only a 3.5 mile loop drive. Other than that, you’ll simply pull into parking areas for hikes and overlooks.
PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK GUIDE: MUST-SEES
Our Petrified Forest National Park Guide is really perfect for people looking to visit the park in one day. We did all of the things below in about 4 hours. We wished we could’ve seen even more of the park, but we were meeting my parents in Utah, so we were tight on time. That said, we still so a lot of amazing things. And, of course, that leaves something for us to see on our next visit!
If you enter from the north eastern entrance just off of I-40, like we did, you’ll enter at the Painted Canyon section of the park. The road continues south, under I-40 and leads all the way down to the Rainbow Forest section of the park. That is the order in which this post is written. However, it’s an easy fix if you enter the park off of 180 at the southeastern Rainbow Forest Entrance, simply reverse the order of this post.
Painted Desert Overlooks
The Painted Desert section of Petrified Forest National Park is that quintessential pinkish-red southwestern landscape, but on a somewhat scaled-down version of other famous nature landmarks in the area. It’s very beautiful and I highly recommend stopping at as many of the overlooks as you have time for! Even better, a hike if you have time. The Painted Desert Rim Trail and Tawa Trail are both in this section of the park, each is around a mile.
Helpful Tip for Painted Desert Section in Petrified Forest National Park: There are trails in this section, but we totally missed the trailheads. These are located at the Painted Desert Visitor Center and Tawa Point.
Puerco Pueblo Trail
TRAIL LENGTH + DIFFICULTY: 0.3 mile loop // easy
The Puerco Pueblo Trail is a quick and easy trail that’s wheelchair and stroller accessible. It winds around some beautiful examples Native American archaeology. First of all, there’s the foundation of a very good-sized pueblo that at its peak housed up to 200 people made from hand-cut stones. Within the pueblo I got to see my very first kiva. Kivas are underground rooms specific to Puebloan peoples for conducting important meetings as well as ceremonies.
In addition to this amazing site, there are some of the most unique and spectacular examples of petroglyphs I’ve seen. These include amazing geometric shapes, a large bird with a man in its beak and many, many others. Also, near one section of petroglyphs is a stone with a notch cut in it to tell time, especially emphasizing the equinox. I love how many cultures focus on the changing of seasons. To top it all off, all of these things are surrounded by the beauty of the desert surrounding it.
Newspaper Rock
Newspaper Rock in an impressive example of Native American petroglyphs. There are over 650 carvings etched into a grouping of large rocks. These are up to 2000 years old! It’s a very beautiful piece of history. However, I wish you were able to get closer to them. Instead, you view down from above with the help of stationary binoculars to see the details. It’s still absolutely worth stopping, but just know what you’re getting into, it isn’t like Newspaper Rock in Utah as far as ability to see the petroglyphs up close goes.
The Tepees
These are stunning rock formations that you drive through between the Painted Desert and the Blue Mesa. Be sure to take the time to use the pullout to really take in their beauty. They’re just so impressive!
The Blue Mesa Drive
The 3.5 mile drive off the main road leading to the Blue Mesa Trailhead has some unbelievably beautiful overlooks along the way with massive badlands and canyons that cut between them. We genuinely stopped at every single overlook along the way and have no regrets about it. Even if you have no interest in doing the hike, take this spur road.
Blue Mesa Trail
TRAIL LENGTH + DIFFICULTY: 1 mile total, out and back // moderately easy
After the amazing drive into this area you get to the actual Blue Mesa hike. Guys, this hike is just unreal; in my opinion, it’s the showstopper of the entire park. The trails leads you down to the base of these badlands. The thing that is extra eye-catching about these formations is the color of them. The stratification here seems extra extreme because of the difference in shades between a deep lavender to cream, a darker orchidy color, sometimes indigo, and even a rich reddish brown. Also, down in this area are some chunks of petrified wood.
Agate Bridge
Agate Bridge is an impressive 200-foot petrified rock that spans a cut into the cliff making the perfect bridge. Obviously, visitors are not permitted to stand on the Agate Bridge but it’s still an impressive thing to see! In addition to this point of interest, the landscape that creates Agate Bridge’s backdrop.
Jasper Forest
This is a panoramic overlook of a large concentration of petrified wood. It’s amazing to see just how much petrified wood there is in this park. Especially when you consider that this wasn’t always a national park, so who knows how much was carried away. The con of this stop, like Newspaper Rock, is that it’s just a platform connected to a parking area, so I found the trails where you can get up close much more interesting if you have the time to take a quick hike.
Crystal Forest Trail
TRAIL LENGTH + DIFFICULTY: 0.75 mile loop // easy
This was my favorite trail that specifically highlighted the petrified wood. First of all, the petrified wood in this section is much more concentrated. There are several beautiful examples all around the trail. These are some of the prettiest examples of petrified wood, though, because the crystals that formed within and around the logs are brightly colored and really stand out! There are a few long examples and a couple decently wide petrified logs as well. It’s a nice distance to get to see a large amount of petrified wood but it doesn’t make you think that you’ve been looking at the same thing over and over again.
Giant Logs Trail
TRAIL LENGTH + DIFFICULTY: 0.4 mile loop // easy
This trail is named for the wider petrified wood fragments in the park. The centerpiece of is “Old Faithful”, the largest stump on the hike, which is just under ten-feet-wide at the base! It’s an impressive fossil of the trees of the past! The trail has some stairs but is all around relatively easy.
TIP FOR RAINBOW FOREST VISITOR: We were unable to do the Long Logs (1.6 Mile loop) or Agate House (2 Mile out and back) Trails. They are also found near the Giant Logs Trailhead but on the other side of the Visitor Center. If you combine those two trails, it’s 2.6 miles total as the Agate House is a spur from the Long Logs loop.
Petrified Forest National Park Guide – Don’t Forget to Pack
We love to share our must-pack items for specific locations with our followers. These are items that we use and love and think will be helpful for a trip to Petrified Forest National Park.
The last thing that we always put on our “packing list” for any trip that involves activities is travel insurance. We know first-hand how quickly and easily accidents can happen. We love World Nomads for insuring our travels.
Although Petrified Forest National Park doesn’t get the notoriety of the more popular parks like Great Smoky Mountains, Zion or Yosemite, I hope that our Petrified Forest National Park guide has shed some light on all the beauty that the park holds. It’s a special place that I greatly enjoyed visiting and I look forward to returning and spending more time in the park.
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