On our way home from the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
People complain the road from West Texas to Arizona is a whole lot of nothing, but we saw beauty in the barrenness.
The gradient hills of wood and rock fringed by desert flora and scrub brush create a vista that reflects the area’s prehistoric beginnings.
Is it wood? Is it rock?
Actually, it’s petrified wood fossilized to rock over time. Some wood is from the Triassic Period and is over 160,000,000 years old!
The entire ground of the park is sprinkled with petrified wood: fossilized marvels sparkling in the dirt and sunshine.
Sites at the park have names like the Rainbow Forest and Painted Desert.
Petroglyphs are believed to be made by Ancestral Pueblo peoples who used them to represent Kachinas or spirit beings and to mark meaningful events like the Summer Solstice.
The ancient village of Puerco Pueblo was inhabited by native peoples between A.D. 1250 and 1380. You can still see remnants of the almost 100 rooms that may have housed 200 people. The site is only a third of the way excavated.
The Petrified National Park is well worth the visit for anyone interested in hiking and history, archaeology and geology or who wants to appreciate the beauty of this crystal desert locked in time.
This place looks very pretty! I’d like to go hiking there sometime. Beauiful pictures! 🙂
It’s a really interesting to hike and is the only national park to preserve a part of the historic Route 66. There’s a lot to see off the tourist trail as well. I wish we could’ve stayed longer. Thank you for stopping by! Best wishes exploring Arizona. ^^
Interesting blog support by great pictures. Will visit when next that way.
Thank you, Steve. I definitely recommend a visit!
Wow your photos here are stunning.
Thank you, John!
We stopped many years ago when passing through. We were not able to stay long so we missed a lot of these cool things. Loved the big tree too!
It’s such a cool stop! Glad you enjoyed it and hope you can go back. 🙂