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Petrified Forest
National Park
Part of the Northern Arizona Painted Desert
Easily reached, close to the main east-west route interstate 40, the
park's 93,533 acres features one of the world's largest and most
colorful concentrations of petrified wood.
It didn't look like this 250 million years ago...
"This high dry tableland was once a vast floodplain
crossed by many streams. To the south, tall, stately pine-like
trees grew along the headwaters. Crocodile-like reptiles;
giant, fish-eating amphibians; and small dinosaurs lived among
a variety of ferns, cycads, and other plants and animals that
are known only as fossils today. The tall trees -
Araucarioxylon, Woodworthia and Schilderia - fell and were
washed by swollen streams into the floodplain."
(from the National Park guide)
These trees were then covered
by silt and volcanic ash and this cut off the
oxygen and slowed decay. Gradually the
logs were covered by silica - from the ground
waters - and this seeped through the wood,
enclosing the tissues with silica. The
silica crystallized into mineral quartz and
the logs were preserved as petrified
wood. Wind an water gradually - over
millions of years - wore away the layers of
sediments leaving the petrified logs exposed
on the surface. And what a wonderful
sight is is today.
The Petrified
Forest is located
on both sides of Interstate 40 between Gallup, New Mexico and
Holbrook, Arizona. It
is best known for its brilliant displays of petrified wood and
views of the Painted Desert.
Equally
impressive however are
the extensive deposits of fossils -
including
dinosaurs -
and the
remnants of prehistoric Anasazi pueblos.
The petrified logs are
extremely beautiful with most unexpectedly bright colors, and
the Park is adjacent to the scenic Painted Desert.
The North Approach: A
27 mile road runs through the Park, from I-40 exit 311 to US 180; the closest
town is Holbrook, 25 miles to the west. The visitor centre is
at the north end and there is a small museum at the south entrance. The first
few miles of this road winds through the Painted Desert, north of the
interstate, and has 9 viewpoints of the rolling multicoloured landscape. The
patterns visible in the eroded soft sedimentary rocks are due mainly to
hematite (red), limonite (yellow) and gypsum (white) - the colours are
especially striking at sunset. The park boundaries have been extended twice,
in 1932 and 1970, to include a large area of the Desert to the north but there
are no trails into this region although back-country camping is allowed.
Several other sections of northeast Arizona are also known as the Painted
Desert, including a large area around US 89 close to the Colorado River. The
park road turns due south, crosses the interstate and a branch of the
Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe railway, and passes through the petrified
region. There are various features of interest - an Indian ruin, ancient
petroglyphs and several geological formations - together with 4 main areas of
petrifaction, listed below.
VIEWPOINTS
Blue Mesa - reached by a short
loop road has many logs lying around an area of undulating
blue-grey mounds of clay. Often the logs lie partially buried
in the clay, and erosion gradually but continuously exposes
more of them. There are no trails in this region as the soils
are delicate.
Jasper Forest is a large
expanse of logs scattered over a wide and rather desolate
valley. There used to be a lot more, but this was one of the
main locations for collecting by early prospectors who removed
logs by the cartload. There is a good viewpoint but again no
hiking opportunities. Opposite, a short road leads to agate
bridge, a long complete unbroken log lying over a stream bed.
The bridge was reinforced by concrete early this century but
it is of course forbidden to walk across.
Crystal Forest: Further south,
a short trail passes through Crystal Forest. This was once
strewn with especially beautiful logs, which had crevices
containing clear quartz and purple amethyst crystals, but all
the best specimens were removed by souvenir hunters long ago.
It was this theft that prompted local citizens to petition for
the creation of the then National Monument, which was
established in 1906 - National Park status was not achieved
until 1962. A few small crystalline specimens can still be
seen, amongst other more typical logs.
Rainbow Forest: The area with
the most densely-scattered petrified wood is Rainbow Forest,
near the south park entrance. There is a museum, which amongst
other exhibits has a large collection of apologetic letters
sent by visitors who have taken rock samples and later
regretted their actions. Hundreds of pieces of petrified wood
are returned each year. Through the museum, a short foot trail
winds through the Giant Forest area which has
some of the biggest logs in the park. Nearby, the Long Logs
trail gives perhaps the most impressive views - the path
passes hundreds of large beautifully coloured examples, often
several metres in length. There is also an old hut, Agate
House, constructed entirely of petrified wood by
Indians in the 16th century.
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