Day 25: Petrified Forest National Park
National Park #9
I’ll be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for Petrified Forest, and I (ashamedly, now) actively campaigned to cut Petrified from the schedule. Despite and perhaps because of my low expectations, I found Petrified Forest to be a DELIGHT.
Petrified Forest is another National Park that is easy to do as a quick day trip. There’s a road that goes straight through the park and everything you’d want to see is a quick hike off the main road.
The things you can see at Petrified Forest are also incredibly varied. Expanses of red rocks and canyons, blue-grey mesas, amazingly well preserved petroglyphs, and yes, fields of ancient petrified trees make each stop along the main road a new and exciting experience.
My favorite part was honestly learning more about the people who inhabited this area for generations. Puerco Pueblo and Newspaper Rock, the major petroglyph sites, were awe-inspiring. I’d go back just to see those again.
What you need to know:
DO NOT TAKE HOME PETRIFIED WOOD. Not only is it against the park’s rules, it’s actually cursed.
One day is plenty to see everything here. We started at the north end (Hwy 40) of the park and worked our way south (Hwy 180) which worked well.
We recommend starting at the Painted Desert Visitors Center where you can get fresh fry bread and have a “Navajo Taco” which is taco fixins on top of fry bread. Delicious.
Try to save time to hit up the Rainbow Forest Museum. We got there right as it closed and we heard great things.
Old route 66 ran right through this area, and there is a great little memorial to its history.
Cell reception and Wi-Fi aren’t great.