April 22, Eric Cardin. April 12, Kelsey Duncan. March 31, Beautiful drive. Lots of places to stop and see really neat things! Lisa Jablonski Clark. March 30, Hiking No shade. Ben Lipe. February 22, Zachary Dumas. February 11, Kevin Sullivan. January 5, Craig Wagstaff. January 1, December 31, Lovely drive through the forest!
Ren Gaudet. December 20, Jeffrey Tefel. December 7, Hiking Great! Fatima Gonzalez. November 15, Beautiful drive, we stop one to many times along some mind blowing trails.
Rebecca Campbell. November 7, Awesome views around every turn! Bhumi Patel. October 4, Kristen K. August 15, Clisby White. August 5, Gloria Thompson. August 2, Show more reviews Showing results 1 - 30 of Add photos of this trail Photos help others preview the trail. Upload photos about this trail to inspire others. Show more photos Showing results 1 - 56 of Share your route with others Help other users find their next route.
Upload your activity and inspire others. Alpha Wolf. October 30, Jessica Graves. October 21, Jeff Mortensen. October 17, Kenneth Caraan. October 15, DeeDee Corey. But fear not. That natural process is called fossilization. Much of the Petrified Forest formed from tall trees called conifers. They grew over million years ago near waterways. During floods, water forced the trees to be pulled up from the ground.
Over time, the wood from the trees became petrified. It sits within the Painted Desert. Brilliantly colored mudstones and clays cover the land as far as the eye can see. They contain bentonite, a clay that is the product of changed volcanic ash. The oldest geological formations in the park are about million years old. Differently colored formations show different time periods. The Blue Mesa formations, for example, have thick bands of grey, purple, blue and green mudstones. They are about million years old.
People first came here after the last Ice Age. Early Paleoindian groups used the petrified wood to create different kinds of stone tools. They used them to hunt large animals. The climate warmed over several thousand years. Humans began building villages here and growing food, such as corn, squash and beans.
At the south end of the park is the Rainbow Forest Museum off Hwy. Museum exhibits include prehistoric animals and petrified wood. A film about the park and the creation of petrified wood is screened every half hour.
A gift shop and snack bar are nearby; restrooms are available. Drive 28 miles south through the park and exit from the south entrance. Take U. They sell meteorites, dinosaur bones, tree stumps, bookends, and jewelry made from petrified wood. The property also has ostriches with eggs for sale , sun-blasted vintage cars, quirky dinosaur sculptures like a T. This place is so awesomely odd with a tinge of creepiness it makes it worth a stop.
Route 66 Studebaker The park road circles back toward I heading south; however, you cannot access the interstate at this point. In the groundwater table, the tree becomes saturated like a sponge and expands.
The water, sand and gravel cut off exposure to oxygen, so the tree doesn't rot. Volcanic ash in the water breaks down, and the silica that was in the ash goes into solution — forming silicic acid, which enters the waterlogged tree and interacts chemically with the wood, altering it to silica and replicating the features of the wood. Over time, you end up with a silica replica of the tree.
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