Petrified Forest is a curious location where once stood 200 ft tall trees with lush vegetation and animal life is today a very arid desert. Scientists believe that about 200 million years ago these trees would fall down and float down a great river and get stuck in great logjams and buried under tons of silt and sand. The silt blocked out the air required for the normal decay of wood and instead introduced silica and other minerals that caused the wood to crystalize. Eventually the silt was washed away and today we have a landscape littered with rock hard timber.

In the late 1800's souvenir hunters carried off tons of the rainbow colored logs. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt designated this area a national monument. In 1932 the painted desert and blue mesa regions were added. In 1962 an act of congress gave the region the coveted national park designation.

Petrified Forest is a Science Park! Best known for globally significant Late Triassic fossils, the park attracts many researchers.

Petrified Forest National Park
PO Box 2217, Petrified Forest, AZ 86028; 928-524-6228;
Visitor's Center: North Park Entrance - Exit 311 from I-40 Freeway
Painted Forest Museum: South Park Entrance.

Petrified Forest Guided Tours
Petrified Forest Guided Tour
Choose from one of many tour packages (Keyword Arizona):

Petrified Forest / Painted Desert / Meteor Crater - Approximately 10-hour guide tour departing daily from Sedona, AZ. (Seasonal Tour - Apr 1 to Nov 15 only).
3-Day Sedona / Grand Canyon Tour - Combines backcountry jeep, rail and helicopter tours of the most prominent landmarks of the Sonoran Desert.
Northern Arizona Guided Coach Tour - Daylong bus trip visits Grand Canyon, Navajo Country, Sedona and scenic Oak Creek Canyon

NOTICE: Removal or damage of any site, artifact, artifact fragment, or rock art can incur penalties under state law of 5 years in prison and a maximum $150,000 fine.

Please note that Northern Arizona is heavily visited in the summer (May-August) which makes getting reservations difficult. The best time to visit is March / April / September / October when there is beautiful weather and less competition for reservations. The nearest lodging is in Holbrook.

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Look for the following turnoffs from the main park road to see the best and most unusual examples of petrified wood. [ See also Arizona Rockhounding Tour. ]

• Blue Mesa - Severly eroded badlands sprinkled with petrified wood. Large pedastal logs are found throughout. Also look below the visitor turnout area for unearthly terrain features called the "haystacks" with colors of blue, gray and red.

• Agate Bridge - Large petrified log is suspended in the air at both ends into sandstone over a dry gully. A bizarre show of the effects of erosion.

• Jasper Forest - Large quantities of petrified timber.

• Crystal Forest - Densest accumulation of petrified wood.

• Long Logs Trail - Remains of an ancient river logjam.

• Giant Logs Trail - Located next to the Rainbow Forest Museum - this collection includes Old Faithful - probably the largest log in the park.

Between 500 A.D. to 1300 A.D. this area was the home of the Anasazi (Navaho word meaning Ancient Ones) a tribe that towards its later years shows a remarkable level of civic development. But they mysteriously disappeared shortly before the arrival of the first spanish explorers in the 1540's. (See also Arizona Indian Cultures.)

Points of Interest:

• Puerco Ruins - 75 room complex of typical Anasazi pueblo. It is the largest and most easily accessible complex in the park.

• Newspaper Rock - So named for its dense concentration of indian rock carvings. One of the finest petroglyph sites of the Southwest.

Winslow-Holbrook Area Parks & Landmarks:
These sites preserve many indian ruins and unique geological formations:
Homolovi Ruins SP - Historic Indian Ruins
Meteor Crater - World's best preserved meteorite impact site
Holbrook - Historic Railroad Town on Route 66
Winslow - Historic Railroad Town on Route 66

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