Petrified Forest National Park

Monday, 12 May, and Monday, 26 May 2025

Petrified Forest National Park lies along I-40 in Arizona. While not as impressive as the more well known parks, we found it well worth the detour off the Interstate. We arrived late in the day on Monday, 12 May, and didn't have enough time to see and do all that we wanted to do before the park closed for the day. So we returned on our way east to take a short hike through the badlands.

The park preserves a section of the Painted Desert where a large quantity of petrified wood has been exposed by erosion.

A jumble of petrified logs.

One of the larger logs.

A closer look at the log showing how petrification preserved the structure of the wood.

Petrified wood collects at the base of the cliffs where it has eroded from the softer sandstone and conglomerate.

One set of rocks is covered with Native American pictographs, giving the area the name "Newspaper Point".

A closer look at the "newspaper".

It's easy to think that Petrified Forest National Park could also be named "Painted Desert National Park", since it really showcases the Painted Desert. This is the view from Tiponi Point.

The triangular profile of these badland hills has given them the name "The Teepees".

The view from Blue Mesa in the center of the park.

Banded badlands at Blue Mesa.

On Monday, 26 May we returned to Petrified Forest National Park as we headed east on I-40. We really wanted to walk the short (1 mile) Blue Mesa hiking trail that lets you get down to the base of the mesa, about 120 feet below the top.

The hiker gives a sense of scale.

Blue Mesa.

Petrified logs that have washed to bottom of Blue Mesa.