One dozen parks! Stop #12 on our trip to National Parks brings us to Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
We couldn't wait to help those poor, terrified trees in the forest. Perhaps we could figure out a way to ease their fears. We were not looking forward to coming across whatever it is that frightens them so, but we knew if we were brave that we'd prevail.
All joking aside, petrified wood is something that had us all intrigued. We were eagerly anticipating seeing nature's artwork in person. I mean, how often do you get to see fields of trees that have been turned to stone? And not just any old stone, but beautiful kaleidoscopes of colorful mineral stones. I guess you could say we're #NatureLovers.
We had never seen anything comparable to petrified wood in person before and really didn't know what to expect. Arriving after the sun had already set, we'd have to wait one more night before exploring this Arizona National Park.
Delighted to stay right outside the park's south entrance, we hunkered down at the Crystal Forest Campground which offers a ton of personality and free RV parking - yay free camping!
A simple dry camping site with flat ground, old painted picnic tables and walk-in wooden decorative teepees made it a great place to catch some zzz's for the short night.
Up with the sun we started our day in the visitor center, as we always do.
Entering the park on the south end, this actually brought us to the Rainbow Forest Museum (and visitor center).
The museum is packed with paleontological exhibits spanning back to the #TriassicPeriod. We found ourselves lost in the wonder and awe of the museum for much longer than anticipated. Seeing replicas and fossils of these ancient creatures was mesmerizing.
We have seen some great dinosaur exhibits before, but none from this particular time period in such detail. One of our favorites had to be the Therapsids. Large plant eating giants that are considered to be reptiles, but look like a mix of mammal, reptile and bird. So unique.
As it turns out, Petrified Forest National Park is one of the world's best locations for seeing and finding fossils from the Late Triassic Period. Scientists continue to work there today and continue to reconstruct clues from the past.
In addition to the Triassic creatures, we learned all about petrified wood while in the museum. One of the coolest things we learned is how heavy petrified wood is - around 200 pounds per cubic foot!
Eventually we made it out of the museum and onto the Giant Logs Trail. This short trail is less than half-a-mile, but offers a view of some of the largest petrified logs in the world. One log there, named "Old Faithful" is almost ten feet wide! #Amazing!
After checking out the giants of the group we took a short drive to the Crystal Forest Trail. This is also a fairly short loop trail, at 3/4 of a mile, although we managed to stay occupied, walking up and down the trail for well over an hour. Just when we thought we came across the piece with the most stunning color combination of quartz gleaming in the sunlight, we'd find another that would become a top contender. With the amount of times that "Mommy come look at this one" and "check this out over here" were yelled (good thing we were the only ones there), I surely tacked a few extra miles onto the hike.
Unfortunately, road construction blocked the one road that travels through the park ending our visit at the Crystal Forest Trail.
With only that one road traveling through the park and construction blocking the way, the only path to see the rest of the park was to drive back out through the South Entrance, take the highway outside the park around and re-enter though the North entrance.
We would have loved to check out the painted dessert on foot rather than just from the car window, but it was already getting late in the day so we decided to keep moving towards our next destination. Next time we're in Arizona we hope to revisit Petrified Forest National Park to hike the Painted Desert and Blue Mesa Trails on the North end of the park. Until then, we will be content holding onto the memories we made at the historic park where we marveled scenes that identically matched photos taken over 100 years ago. Of course, photos don't do it justice so get out and take a peek for yourself!
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