Petrified Forest National Park

The park features a large section of the colorful Painted Desert, Indian ruins and petroglyphs, and trees that have been petrified (changed to stone) and remains of prehistoric animals.

The area was set aside by Presidential Proclamation on December 8, 1906, and was established as a National Park on December 9, 1962.

Geology

200 million year ago, Arizona was a tropical land located some 1,700 miles closer to the equator than it is today. According to the theory of plate tectonics (better known as the theory of continental drift), all the continents of the earth were once joined together into a supercontinent called Pangaea. Pangaea eventually cracked into blocks that drifted to the positions they occupy as the present-day continents. Thus, Arizona shifted north and west, along with the entire North American continent, to it current position. During this long period, the land was shaped and built up by repeated inundations by warm, shallow seas and by metamorphic activity from deep within the earth's molten core.

Rivers in that period carried fallen trees from distant mountains and buried them in low-lying plains. Before their fall, some of the giant trees, the cone-bearing Araucarioxylon, were up to 200 ft high. Waterborne minerals transformed the logs to stone, replacing wood cells and filling spaces between them with brightly colored quartz and jasper crystals. This now-arid land would be unrecognizable today to its ancient inhabitants of primitive fish, massive amphibians, and reptiles.

Prehistoric and Historic Indians

Human beings have been present in the Petrified Forest National Park area for at least 1,500 years. Located within the boundaries are more than 300 archaeological sites, varying in size from a few potsherds finds to pueblo complexes. It is believed that the oldest ruins were occupied around AD 500. Consisting mainly of oval pit houses 9 to 12 ft in diameter, they are scattered on top of a mesa in the southern portion of the park. Ruins of pit houses - with the added feature of ventilation shafts and outside storage areas - in the Twin Buttes area indicate a more highly developed culture. Shreds of decorative pottery have been found there, along with sea shells and semiprecious stones, indicating trade with tribes of the Pacific coast and in the heart of Mexico.

By 1540, when Spanish explorers first passed through the region, the natives had vanished, perhaps to the north and the heart of the Hopi nation, to the southeast where the Zuni now dwell, and to the east where they may have resurfaced as Pueblo Indians.

Historical Background

The first Spaniards in the area poked around a bit and then moved on. The Indians had left behind no gold, and the petrified wood chips that littered the ground had little monetary value. By contrast, the explorers of the mid-nineteenth century were excited by the petrified wood.

In 1883, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was completed across northern Arizona, and new settlers poured in. Part of the attraction was "Chalcedony Park," as the area was then known. During the 1890s entrepreneurs sawed and polished thousands of tons of fossilized wood into pedestals and table tops, for which people back east were willing to pay high prices.

In 1895 the Arizona Territorial Legislature asked the U.S. Congress to set aside the Petrified Forest as a national park. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Petrified Forest National Monument. The incorporation included only the Rainbow and Jasper forests in the southern portion of the park. In 1923, a large portion of the Painted Desert and the Blue Mesa area were added to the monument. And in 1962, Congress established the Petrified Forest National Park.

Driving Tour

The southern section - the original national monument - has some of the finest petrified wood specimens in the world. The central section contains the greatest number of prehistoric Indian sites. During their stay from about AD 300 to 1400, the Anasazi, Sinagua, and Mogollon tribes progressed from semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers to farmers who live in permanent pueblos and had a complex ceremonial life. The northern section of the park encompasses part of the Painted Desert, famed for its landscape of everchanging colors.

Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitors Center A ferocious phytosaur skeleton cast greets you on entering the museum. This large crocodile-like reptile roamed the forests and swamps here during the Triassic Period 225 million years ago. The phytosaur and other exhibits provide aa look at the strange environment of cycads, ferns, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and other early life that existed then. Also see artifacts of the prehistoric Indians who lived here for more than 1,000 years. The Giant Logs Trail, behind the Visitors Center, takes you past monster-sized logs. The base of one fallen tree stands higher than a man. A picnic area is located .1 mile up the road.

Long Logs Interpretive Trail and Agate House The self-guided nature trail is an easy ha;f-mile walk, and a good opportunity to have a close look at the ancient trees. The jumble of logs here is thought to have been a logjam, buried in mud, sand and volcanic ash. Many logs measure over 100 ft long. Agate House, on a short side trail, is a pueblo occupied about 700 years ago. Indians built the unusual structure with chunks of colorful petrified wood. Two of the seven rooms have been reconstructed to show their original size.

Crystal Forest Interpretive Trail Some of the prettiest and most concentrated petrified wood in the park lies along this paved three-quarter mile trail.

Jasper Forest There's a great view to the west and north from the overlook. Below you can see pieces of petrified wood eroded from the hillsides.

Agate Bridge Erosion has carved out a gully beneath a large log, leaving it as a bridge. In years past, one of the Hashknife cowboys rode his horse across the log on a $10 bet. Because of cracking, the log was braced with a concrete beam in 1917.

Blue Mesa has several panoramic overlooks and a one-mile loop interpretive trail. The trail is a good introduction to the Chinle Formation and its badlands topography, showing how the hills formed and are now eroding.

The Teepees, symmetrical cone-shaped hills can be seen from the overlook.

Newspaper Rock, an impressive collection of ancient petroglyphs covers a huge sandstone boulder below. The drawings have not yet been interpreted, but seem to represent animals, spiritual figures, and perhaps some doodling. Bring binoculars of use the pay telescopes to examine the artwork from the overlook.

Puerco Indian Ruin Before AD 1100, local Indians lived in small scattered settlements. Their building of larger pueblos, such as Puerco, shows a change to an agricultural lifestyle requiring greater pooling of efforts. The broad, meandering Puerco River provided reliable water all year and its floodplain had rich soil for farming. The river also attracted birds, pronghorn, and other game. Indians built a one-story pueblo with about 76 rooms and at least 2 kivas (ceremonial rooms) around a rectangular plaza. You can see the foundations of these rooms and one of the kivas. Archaeologists think that this site was occupied between AD 1100 and 1200 and again from AD 1300 to 1400. The last occupants appear to have packed up and left peaceably, perhaps over a period of years.

Many fine petroglyphs cover the boulders below the village. Though more scattered, they are comparable to those at the better-known Newspaper Rock. One of the Puerco petroglyphs was found to mark the summer solstice, and rangers usually have demonstration programs here from about June 10 to 30. About 14 sites with solar markings have been discovered in the park.

Puerco River Bridge The scene here was probably far different when Indians occupied the pueblo. Record indicate that cottonwoods tree grew along the floodplain as late as the 19th century. Ranchers took advantage of the abundant grasslands in the late 1880s by increasing their herds, but drought in 1891-94 dried up the grasses, and gross overstocking destroyed the range. Runoff carried high concentrations of salts into the river, killing less salt-resistant plants. Floods have taken their toll, scouring and widening the river and leaving loads of silt in their wake. Now the river is dry during much of the year.

Bridge over the railroad tracks The Petrified Forest first gained national attention with the completion of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later the Santa Fe) across northern Arizona. Train travelers disembarked at the nearby Adamana Station, now abandoned, to visit the "trees turned to stone."

Lacey Point Overlook of the Painted Desert.

Whipple Point Overlook of the Painted Desert. One of the first whites to visit the Petrified Forest, Lieutenant and A.W. Whipple came in 1853.

Nizhoni Point Overlook of the Painted Desert. The hillside below appears to be covered with shards of glass shining in the sun. Actually these are natural pieces of selenite gypsum, a very soft mineral that can be scratched with your fingernail.

Pintado Point Overlook of the Painted Desert. You are now on a volcanic lava flow, which covers the entire rim and protects the underlying softer, Chinle Formation from erosion.

Chinle Point Picnic Area Water and restrooms are available in the summer.

Painted Desert Inn and Kachina Point Overlook Herbert Lore built the original inn with Indian labor and local materials in 1924. Travelers bumping their way across Arizona on Route 66 stopped for meals and to shop for Indian crafts. The National Park Service purchased the inn and surrounding land in 1936 to add to the then national monument. Workers reconstructed and enlarged the inn as a park concession and information station, but its four sleeping rooms were not used after World War II. The inn closed in when the Painted Desert Visitors Center opened in 1962. Plans were made for demolition of the old building, but enough people recognized its unique Southwestern architecture, a mixture of Spanish and Indian pueblo styles, that is was saved.

Tawa Point Overlook os the Painted Desert.

Tiponi Point Overlook of the Painted Desert.