A Day in Petrified Forest National Park (AZ)
- The Wandering Warmacks
- Jul 1, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 15, 2024
For phase 2 of the “nomad life”, we headed back out west a few months after our son was born. On our 19 hour drive from Missouri to Scottsdale, Arizona, we were lucky enough to have a National Park right along our route!
Since there were other activities we wanted to fit in during our time in Arizona, we decided to just take a day trip here rather than spend a whole weekend. We personally thought the length of time was adequate; we got to hike a few short trails and take a scenic drive through the park. April was a beautiful time to visit; it was a sunny and crisp 60 degrees.
We weren’t quite sure what we would make of the “Painted Desert”, but Petrified Forest National Park ended up being cooler than we thought it would be. It was like a mini Badlands. The colors were vibrant in comparison to normal desert scenery, and there’s a lot of history at this park too. According to NPS, the ecosystem is over 200 million years old. It’s home to hundreds of plant species and a large collection of petrified (fossilized) wood.
HIKES
• Blue Mesa trail (1 mile) - this was probably my favorite hike throughout the park! It’s a nice paved trail with some slight inclines and declines. While it took a little maneuvering at times, we were able to push our stroller easily on most of the walk. The purple and blue hues of the badlands were captivating, and offered great views all around.
• Painted Desert Rim trail (1.2 miles) - this is one of the first spots you’ll come across when entering the park. The red, pink, and orange undertones were strikingly beautiful. If you don’t want to take the whole out and back trail to the Painted Desert Inn, luckily Tawa Point can be viewed just from the parking lot!
• Historic Blue Forest Trail (2.4 miles) - the very minor elevation gain (~200 ft) made for a cool perspective of the landscape
• Crystal Forest trail (0.8 miles) - this short, paved trail was a perfect stroller walk. Seeing the abundance of petrified wood up close was so neat
• Giant Logs trail (0.7 miles) - right behind the visitor center is home to the largest petrified log, Old Faithful
• Puerco Pueblo trail (0.3 miles) - mostly paved short walk for views of ancient petroglyphs
THOUGHTS
We loved that a lot of the trails here were super easy. This was a great place for our first adventure since having a baby. Our son loved walking around with us in the carrier and being pushed around in the stroller. We’d recommend this park to anyone wanting a unique and low-effort roadtrip stop!
TRIP BREAKDOWN
LENGTH OF STAY: 1 DAY
📍 Holbrook, AZ
⛽ 🍽️ : variable
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