Canyons & deserts

Petrified Forest National Park

Holbrook, AZ · Painted Desert, Northern Arizona$$25 per vehicle, good for 7 days

About

One road, about 28 miles long, runs the length of Petrified Forest. The fossil logs lie at the south end near Holbrook, and on the Giant Logs and Crystal Forest trails the trunks at your feet are 200 million years old, turned to quartz and streaked with jasper and amethyst. Blue Mesa's badlands are banded in blue and purple clay. Stop at Newspaper Rock for the petroglyphs. An old alignment of Route 66 crosses the park, and at the north end Kachina and Chinde Points look out over the Painted Desert.

Highlights

Crystal Forest and Giant Logs trails, dense with colorful fossilized logsBlue Mesa badlands, banded in blue, purple, and gray bentonitePainted Desert overlooks at Kachina and Chinde PointsNewspaper Rock petroglyphs and Puerco Pueblo ruinsHistoric Route 66 alignment crossing the park

Getting there

1 Park Road, Petrified Forest, AZ 86028

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