Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest

We spent the two days wandering the two adjacent, intermingled wonders that are the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. Founded in 1906 to stop the looting and development, they are strange and fascinating to behold.

We parked Harvey in a very nice KOA in Holbrook, Arizona. It was nearly a four-hour drive from Apache Junction to Holbrook. Not a bad drive; some high curves and a lot of steep inclines and declines. After passing through a pine forested pass about 6,800 ft. we stopped in a small cluster of filling stations at the junction of two highways. Once outside the cab I was immediately homesick for Scottsdale's warmth.

Over two days we walked about seven miles in the parks. All the walking was on paths: some recently paved asphalt, some old cracked asphalt and some tamped and trampled gravel. We climbed a total of maybe 20 floors worth of stairs and probably down just as many. There wasn't a scary step in the 18,000. Every ranger or employee we talked to was nice. Especially the rangers at the entrance gates. Our first day here was Sunday so it was a little busy. Today, a Monday, I think we could have sat there chatting a half-hour before anyone else wanted in.

Located east of Holbrook there is a good twenty-eight mile asphalt road, running largely north to south with a hook at the top like a shepherd's staff, that takes you to the dozen points called out on the park maps. We started at the north entrance. Turning north off I-40, thru the entrance gate you hit the new, attractive visitor’s information center with a short film, exhibits, a knowledgeable ranger and a cafe that was offering lamb stew that day. We grabbed a turkey sandwich, a bag of baked chips, two iced teas - unsweetened, thank you - and hit the road. It loops further north and counterclockwise under the interstate and into the body of the park. The park is maybe 20 miles across and 35 miles top to bottom; 50,000 acres. Still, they say the painted desert covers a 120 by 60 mile area. 

The Painted Desert’s palette is limited. At one extreme is a very light warm gray found on crumbling popcorn rock. The palette grows darker to a middle gray topping many of the cones found throughout the landscape. There are pale sage greens and then warm tones from almost orange through terra cotta to deep rust reds. They call some of the grays “blue” but to us at best they were cooler grays. 

A panorama near the north end of the park (Click to expand)

This view is representative of part of the palette you see.

This view is representative of different areas.

Maureen noticed this outcropping looked
like a seated lion from our point of view

That is not to say the landscape is not impressive, it is. It layers and spreads that palette across cones, hillocks, bluffs, mesas, canyons and wide plains. As you move south through the park petrified trunks and chunks start to appear. By the time you are in the southern quarter you find long, massive trunks laid on pedestals of softer material they have protected from erosion. Some trunks protrude from sandstone faces like rusted ancient cannon. When the sandstone is eaten back enough an unsupported chunk of the trunk breaks off and slides or rolls down the hill. 

Panorama showing petrified logs just scattered about.

A large petrified log teetering on much softer material it has protected

Sometimes you see a sense of humor in the park designers.
Like these steps at Long Logs near the South Gate.

One of the northern stops is the Painted Desert Inn. It was built by a family around 1920 and registered under the Homestead Act in 1924. The stucco exterior and other changes were made by Civilian Conservation Corp workers in the 1930s. That touched me because my grandfather, Skelie Sanner, worked on the CCC. The interior showed craftsmanship and an interesting variety of materials.

This is the Painted Desert Inn in the park.It has seen many changes in its almost 90 years (National Park Service photo)

A main room in the Inn with a ceiling of decorative glass panels.

This petroglyph was found in the park separated from its original substrate.

In much of the Inn the ceiling is made from herringboned
aspen logs laid over Ponderosa pine beams

The colors of the petrified wood are varied and sometimes intense. They seem to include all colors except blue. Iron in its ferrous or ferric states make up many of the colors. The visitors and museum shops offer polished fragments, slices, slabs and sections of trunks from a few dollars to several thousand. There are also privately owned shops nearby selling “petrified wood.”We didn’t go in. At first I was irritated thinking they must be stones pilfered from the park, but, the park only covers a small percentage of the entire petrified forest area. All of that being wood cut, polished and sold could be from private or unprotected public lands. Still, no one piece is definitive and what do I need with a chunk of wood/stone?

This is a large polished slab over 3 ft tall.
Petrified wood is four times harder to work than granite.

The white areas are often quartz.

Quartz in the center.

"The Agate House" rebuilt after a dwelling by the native inhabitants.
Typical of cliff dwellings and other stone structures it is entered
via a ladder through a hole in the roof.

It was hard deciding what to photograph. And, many colorful petrified pieces were too far off the path for a casual visit. Still, there were plenty. We intensified the colors of some by pouring RO-filtered water on them before taking a photo. Some trunks were 100 feet long and six feet or more in diameter at the base. A placard in the park said when they were alive in the time of the dinosaurs some were 200 ft tall. 

We were there in the winter, still some plants were blooming.

There are 1800's photos of Victorian couples standing on this 100 foot petrified log.
Some time early this century they added a crude concrete reinforcement.  

We couldn't get the full dozen spots done in one day and so went back to Holbrook to eat at Romo's. Just off the main street it was friendly, cozy and inexpensive. The food was good and plentiful and the beer was cold. The salsa was just spicy enough, as were M's chicken enchiladas. I had the Navajo Taco, which was tasty and mild. Couldn't ask for anything else for an early dinner after a day of tramping around the parks.