Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park is one of the most underrated national parks in the United States. It offers a completely unique landscape filled with colorful badlands, ancient petrified wood, and rich history that many people don’t expect. The park stretches between two entrances (North and South), and it’s highly recommended to drive through the entire park to experience all the major highlights. The scenic drive itself is peaceful and very well maintained. In the Painted Desert area (North side), you’ll find stunning overlooks with layered colors that look especially beautiful during sunrise or sunset. The Painted Desert Rim Trail is an easy walk with excellent views. The southern section features the most famous petrified wood areas such as Crystal Forest, Giant Logs, Jasper Forest, and Agate Bridge, where you can see massive petrified logs up close along short walking trails. Blue Mesa is a must-visit spot with vibrant blue, purple, and gray badlands. You can either drive the loop road or walk the short trail to fully experience the colors and formations. The park also includes important cultural and historical sites like Puerco Pueblo, where you can see ancient pueblo remains and petroglyphs. Most trails here are short and easy, making the park suitable for families and casual visitors. You can explore the main highlights comfortably in half a day, or spend more time if you enjoy hiking and photography. Overall, Petrified Forest National Park is a peaceful, scenic, and educational destination and is absolutely worth visiting, especially if you appreciate unique landscapes and history.

This place was just too beautiful and fascinating to capture. Will just share a few pics of our visit recently in Jan 2026. The temp was in the 40's and 50's which was actually perfect. Honestly, would be very challenging to walk the trails during the height of summer in addition to the large crowds. We drove the 28 miles of the whole park to experience the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. Very much worth the visit. We just walked a few trails that are paved for safely walking. Bring walking shoes/ boots, water and best to dress in layers. My hoodie was perfect. Allow a day or most of the day to stop and visit the outlooks to enjoy the amazing scenery. It starts to get dark around 5. We spent 2 nights at the Delta Motel on Route 66 that we used as our base. Note the Petrified wood with the quartz crystals that are millions of years old. I am always fascinated by the vegetation that survives these harsh climates. Note the colors of the rocks and sand. Go visit....

An underrated National Park that is so worth a visit. We entered at the North entrance, making stops at all of the scenic areas of interest on the map given to you at the visitor's center or entry gate. The first part of the park was the Painted Desert. The middle contains the Pueblo & Petroglyphs. We made it into the Petrified Forest as far as the Blue Mesa. To see all of this with stops took us 2-3 hours. Wish we would have planned on more time to hike!

This National Forest is amazing! I was not sure what to expect and it turned out to be one of my favorite cross country stops. It is amazing to see the illustrated history of generational change and the absolutely stunning views. There was an abundance of petrified wood and the painted desert was jaw dropping.

We love our National Parks. All unique in their own way, and always a fun experience. We went in the beginning of January and the park was not busy. The visitor center and gift shop have a fairly large parking lot with bathrooms. Behind the visitor center, is the Giant Logs Trail (paved .4 mile trail) enabling you to touch the trees. The 28 mile drive around the park has some small scenic pull offs. Newspaper Rock, has 2000 year old petroglyphs you can only see through 3 viewers they provide on site. I would recommend taking binoculars so you don’t have to wait to look through them if there is a line of people waiting. Blue Mesa was my favorite and the Blue Mesa Trail is a paved 1 mile trail that takes you down to the base of the beauties or you can drive the 4 mile loop around them. Stop at the Painted Desert Overlooks, on a clear day you can see 108 miles to the San Francisco Peaks.