While walking through the wilderness, feeling the howling winds and seeing the fossilized trees, I sense the magnificent history this land has passed through.
A national park in northeastern Arizona. A little further east is New Mexico. It is in the wilderness along Interstate 40, and plant fossils called petrified wood remain in the earth. The unique scenery here stands out, as no other national parks offer the same views, making it a valuable destination.
This place is a little far from the national parks that belong to the Grand Circle in Arizona and Utah, so it takes time to access. Perhaps for that reason, many itineraries tend to leave it off when touring national parks. However, it is a valuable place where you can see scenery that cannot be seen in other national parks.
There are two entrances to the park. One is on Interstate 40, and the other is on Route 180, which runs southeast from the nearby town of Holbrook. There is a road that runs through the park from north to south between these two places. A trail runs along this road, where you can see the landscape dotted with fossilized trees.
There are six trails in the park. They are all between a few hundred meters and two kilometers long, and the terrain is not very rough. Therefore, they are easy to walk on. Below, I would like to introduce three of the most popular trails that I visited.
■ Blue Mesa (Lap: 1.6km)
I walked in the Painted Desert. Blue, purple, and gray layers of rock form on a slightly undulating plateau. Originally outside of Petrified Forest National Park, this area was later incorporated. Similar places would be Badlands National Park or Artist’s Palette in Death Valley National Park.
This place runs through a plateau where strata form. It is a rare place, so you will enjoy it. There were some tree fossils here and there, but they were not very noticeable. Don’t expect to see them on this trail.
■ Crystal Fores (Lap: 1.2km)
The wilderness scatters fossilized trees. This is probably the main attraction of this national park. There are many picturesque spots scattered throughout. If you want to take photos, this trail is the best. The size of the fossilized trees is smaller than that of the Giant Logs, but you can see the mysterious sight of fossilized trees scattered across the desolate land.
■ Giant Logs（Lap : 0.6km）
As the name suggests, this place is home to a large concentration of tree fossils. There is a building ; the Rainbow Forest Museum and large fossils litter the trail behind it. It is not necessary to go all the way to the back of the trail. This place is at the southernmost part of the national park, but if you have very limited time to see the national park, it might be best to enter from Route 180 and just see this place before moving on.
The area around the national park is a wilderness. My first visit was in December, and the second in May, but both were windy. The number of visitors is limited, so walking through the wilderness, feeling the howling wind, and seeing tree fossils that I have never seen before can remind me of the magnificent history that this land has gone through. It may evoke emotions that are not found in other national parks.
Although it is a remote area, there are plenty of shops and other facilities. On the Interstate 40 side, the national park operates shops and restaurants. On the 180 side, there are privately run gift shops on both sides of the road. I highly recommend stopping by.
Finally, I would like to introduce two places to see around Petrified Forest National Park. Both are interesting places, so I hope you will stop by.
Holbrook
This town is about 40km west of Petrified Forest National Park. People know it as a town on Route 66. The most famous motel is the Wigwam Motel. You can stay in a cone-shaped building (tipi) that Native Americans used. The current motel opened in 1988.
Many books or photo collections about Route 66 features the Wigwam Motel’s neon sign at night.
I first visited this town in 2001, but my impression when I visited in 2024 was that unfortunately, there were fewer places that reminded me of Route 66. The stores in the center of town had aged, and many of them had closed. However, the Wigwam Motel mentioned above is a unique place, and I would like to encourage anyone who likes Route 66 to stop by and stay there if possible.
Meteor Crater
This crater is about 100km west of Holbrook on Interstate 40. A meteorite collided with the Earth about 50,000 years ago and formed it. Its size is about 1.2km in diameter and 170m deep. For reference, the crater on Mount Fuji is 800m in diameter and 240m deep, so this crater is about 1.5 times the size of Mount Fuji in diameter.
Personally, I remember being quite impressed when I saw the crater at the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan, but the sheer size of this Meteor Crater also overwhelmed me. The crater is surrounded by wilderness, and the sight of a crater in this vast wilderness may have been a factor in my feeling of overwhelm.
You can view the crater from a high point. I highly recommend you to visit if you have a time..
I visited in 2001 and 2024, and the facilities had changed significantly in 2024. I remember that in 2001 there was only a gift shop, but when I visited in 2024, a new building had been built, which not only contained a restaurant but also a 4D experiential theater. It had become somewhat commercialized. I feel that this change has at least somewhat reduced the vastness and impact of the crater.
It is a common story in tourist spots. Building artificial facilities in a place surrounded by nature makes the place lose its original beauty.”I felt that this was a typical example of such a place. In addition, the entrance fee was exorbitant (29 US dollars per person).
Visited in 2001 and 2024
Basic Information
■ Name : Petrified Forest
■ Address : Arizona, USA
■ Homepage : https://www.nps.gov/pefo/index.htm
■ How to get here / Input
- Accessing this location can be difficult. The closest cities are Flagstaff, Arizona, and Phoenix, Arizona, so the most realistic option would be to fly into either of those cities and rent a car. Another option is to fly into Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Combining it with other national parks is also difficult to plan. One possibility is to visit Petrified Forest National Park after touring the Grand Circle, or to combine it with Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Personally, I recommend combining it with Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
- Distance/Time
・100 miles (160 km) from Flagstaff, approximately 2 hours.
・160 miles (260 km) from Phoenix, approximately 2.5 hours.
・200 miles (320 km) from Albuquerque, approximately 3 hours.
