The summer of 2019 was an adventurous time for me traveling throughout Northern Arizona, making my first visits to the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks. It was an ideal way to celebrate my birthday month in June. Always enthusiastic about a road trip, my partner and I rented a spacious Dodge Caravan and off we went with our Chihuahua Tiny in tow. It was exhilarating to hit the road and get out of Phoenix for a week – and it’s extreme summer temperatures. I was also really chomping at the bit to continue fulfilling my bucket list which includes visiting every National Park & Monument in the lower 48 states!
The Petrified Forest National Park is one of these many magnificent sites that Arizona is blessed with, encompassing 346 square miles of land in northeastern Arizona, with the Painted Desert included in the northern portion of the Petrified Forest which was designated a National Monument in 1906, when Arizona was still a territory. It finally achieved National Park status in 1962, fifty years after Arizona attained statehood. It’s also notable that the fabled Rte. 66 cuts diagonally through the Park, very close to the Visitor Center. Of all the intriguing sights to behold, the most fascinating aspect of the Park are the colorful “badlands” containing terrain characterized by curious sedimentary rock formations that abound in states like Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
The Painted Desert region is home to much of Arizona’s badlands where it is believed that erosion of the different rock types over millions of years created the amazing colors and shapes that visitors enjoy today. These various rock formations also contain massive amounts of iron and manganese which contribute to these gorgeous hues. The Spanish name for the area sounds also sounds pretty and romantic: “El Desierto Pintado” which seems as though it should be the title of a Spanish love balled. In any case, it’s intriguing to imagine the awe those first Europeans in the expedition of Francisco de Vasquez Coronado must have felt when they came upon this region in 1570, christening it with that moniker. Except for the road and the cars filled with tourists that pass through here, not much has changed in the last 430 years or so.
It should also be noted that the climate of the Petrified Forest / Painted Desert is dry and windy, constantly whipping the grasses to and fro. So, be on guard if you’re wearing a hat! The whole region of this park is mesmerizing and has a very different appearance from other parts of the state – lacking the Saguaro Cactus that typifies the Sonoran Desert in the southern part of Arizona, for instance. While the summer temperatures will certainly reach the 100 degree range in the park, at least the extreme, oppressive heat of the Phoenix/Sonoran Desert region isn’t typical of the Petrified Forest. However, it’s still important to keep a lot of water and sunscreen on hand when traveling through any dry, desert like climates and especially if you go hiking on any trails through the park.
Keeping this in mind, the best time of the year to visit the Painted Forest & Petrified Desert for most people might be September through December where the high temperature averages are around 84 degrees (September) and around 50 degrees in December. The Petrified Forest is quite a marvel of nature on our planet, and it’s incredible to think about how it all came to be in the first place. Along with the petrified wood that abounds here, there are many other fossils to be found, all of which originated in the great forests which covered the area some 200-215 million years ago. It’s stunning to picture how all of this area was once swampy jungle, with trees and other lush vegetation covering the present day park. Millions of years ago it would have also been home to dinosaurs and other reptiles overrunning the landscape – until inexplicable, mass-scale, catastrophic climate changes occurred devastating the entire ecosystem which eventually resulted in the Petrified Forest & Painted Desert that is such a source of wonder to visitors today.
Personally, I find it captivating to closely examine these ancient artifacts of the natural world – because it’s mind-boggling to contemplate trees that were transformed into rock and the prehistoric creatures that were fossilized so many eons ago. The Visitor Center is a must to check out for anyone visiting this National Park (with its excellent gift shop!) to learn more about this incredible landscape. Another thing to keep in mind is that Petrified Forest/Painted Desert only averages about 650,000 visitors per year – making it much less crowded than the Grand Canyon, which averages over 6,000,000 visits each year. An interesting side note for those who love trivia: although it wasn’t filmed here, it was the setting for the classic Warner Brothers philosophical drama film The Petrified Forest (1936) starring Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.
The film was adapted from a Robert E. Sherwood play about a curious assortment of characters who cross paths at a roadside diner in this remote area of Arizona at the edge of the Petrified Forest The main antagonist is gangster Duke Mantee (played by Bogart) who holds the motley group hostage as he’s on the lam – the object of a massive police hunt. The film was honored in by the American Film Institute in 2003 for its “100 Years Of Heroes & Villains award in which Duke Mantee received a villain nomination.
For more information and directions about visiting The Petrified Forest National Park, check out the following websites:
http://www.nps.gov. (for the National Park 🏞️ Service)
http://paulagaston.com (a very informative and fun personal blog about visiting the park)
http://www.visitarizona.com (facts & guide)
