Petrified Forest National Park: 13 Incredible Photo-op Stops!

On our Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona road trip, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona is the next park we visited, after White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks. We were here in late September, and the weather was perfect. This was a bit of a double header! Starting at the north end of the national park, off of Interstate 40, Painted Desert is immensely enjoyable on the way to see the petrified wood. 

Stop One

We began at Painted Desert Visitor Center, which was one of the main places for amenities. Besides the gift shop, café, outdoor picnic area, gas station and restrooms, there is an information center.

The Rangers here were very friendly and very helpful. One even insisted on making our 16-year-old Jack Russell, who was traveling with us, a BARK Ranger. That really just meant that we were going to abide by the rules of keeping him on a leash, cleaning up after him, etc. He did receive a little certificate that was signed and some treats-which he was pretty happy about. 

There is petrified wood and even a petrified log on display in the pavilion/picnic area.

We grabbed our free copy of their Trip Planner publication at the information center and started our journey through Petrified Forest National Park.

Stop Two

Pretty quickly you will get to a pull-over/overlook where you will see beautiful and vibrant colors of desert sand. Nothing short of spectacular! The 1st attraction sighting, in person, always makes my heart jump. 

Stop Three

I love this building! It’s Painted Desert Inn, which is now a museum. There are picturesque views here, but the museum wasn’t open the day we visited. While walking around taking pictures, I saw a lizard running in the sand-from the cover of one plant to another. That was the most excitement here. Haha

Stop Four

The Studebaker/Route 66 site will be next just before you cross I40. The old Studebaker frame sits in the location where Route 66 cut through the park. You’ll find a mounted bumper and Route 66 logos embossed in concrete here also. Great place for photos!

Stop Five

Puerco Pueblo is where you will find remains from ancient ancestral Pueblo homes along a short point 3 mile paved loop, trail. There’s also an overlook to see some petroglyphs carved on some rocks here too.

Visit the little structure situated on the path to learn more. Apparently, Bud thought Trit might be interested. He wasn’t. Ha

Stop Six

Newspaper rock is a cool overlook to view more petroglyphs. They say there are over 650 petroglyphs, dating back as far as 2000 years. Honestly, you are probably going to need to look through binoculars, the observation telescope mounted on the stand here, or have a really high quality zoom camera lens to enjoy these. They obviously don’t want you to get too close to them, so they can keep them protected. It’s a great panoramic view regardless!

Stop Seven

The Tepees (Teepees) wasn’t labeled as an actual stop on our complimentary map, although I’m not sure why, other than you can’t miss them-so you don’t have to stop?! It’s like a small mountain range of colorful cone shaped mountains and so photogenic! We stopped several times in different pull offs for a variety of views/shots though.

Stop Eight

Blue Mesa is the next area you will come to in this ever changing landscape. You can hike a 1 mile trail to admire the blue hues or drive the 3.5 mile loop, which is what we did. To me it seems like a continuation of the teepees with a lot more blue coloring. The colors are indicative of age. You will probably start seeing more petrified wood around this area too.

Stop Nine

Agate Bridge is definitely petrified wood. It’s a petrified log bridging over a gully. It’s labeled as being 110 feet long. We were pretty close to it, but it really didn’t seem over 100 foot long to me. It is pretty awesome that the log stayed suspended all the way across the ravine long enough to petrify without deteriorating. I’m guessing some of the log could be buried too and we didn’t see all of it. Enjoyed the stop though.

Stop Ten

Jasper Forest is up next. This is an overlook with scattered petrified wood. It’s a pretty large area, but you are not close to the specimens. Neat to see that so much petrified wood has been preserved. You can easily pick it out from the overlook.

Stop Eleven

Crystal Forest is definitely a place that you can get up close to large pieces of petrified logs. There’s a .75 mile paved trail that loops through this area. These are beautiful pieces of petrified wood with quartz crystals. They were so colorful and shimmering in the sunlight.

Stop Twelve

Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center is where paleontological exhibits are found in the museum and there is also a Giant Logs Trailhead here. It’s a .4 mile loop trail where are you can see “Old Faithful”, which is almost 10 feet around the base.

Stop Thirteen

Also near rainbow forest museum and Visitor Center is the Agate House Trailhead which is a 2 mile round trip hike taking you to a reconstructed pueblo of seven rooms out of petrified wood. Off of this trail is another trail, called Long Logs, which is a 1.6 mile loop where you will see long logs. Makes sense. These are petrified tree trunks of a Triassic log jam. You can actually just combine these two trails for a 2.6 mile round-trip hike. You will have to hike these trails to see the sites. There are no drives available for these. 

Along the way, there were several other short hikes, restrooms, picnic areas and beautiful views. You have now arrived at the south entrance by the end of this tour, and will come out of the park on the road to Highway 180. Taking a right will take you to Holbrook where you can get back on I40 if you wish.

We hope you have enjoyed this account of our visit to Petrified Forest National Park. Hopefully this answers some questions and helps you know what to expect when you visit. I am betting you will have as much enthusiasm for the painted desert and the petrified wood as we do, once you’ve seen it! 

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