From Prescott we headed to Holbrook, Arizona to see Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert badlands.
Petrified Forest National Park
It was amazing to see so many petrified logs in the National Park.
Dogs are allowed on all hiking trails in the Petrified Forest National Park. Jake really enjoyed exploring all of the trails.
Over 200 million years ago, the area was a dense forest. Huge coniferous trees up to 9 feet in diameter and 200 feet tall grew. Fallen trees were washed into an ancient river system and covered by flooded river sediment along with volcanic ash. Because of the lack of oxygen and insects from the mud and ash, the tree’s structure were maintained and the decay process slowed. High silica concentration dissolved in water gradually replaced the plant debris with quartz. Amethyst, yellow citrine, and smoky quartz formed. The Colorado Plateau was uplifted and wind and rain erosion exposed the petrified trees. Because of the uplifting, the quartz trees cracked giving the appearance that the logs were cut.
Many of the Petrified logs had incredible colors.
Others looked like wood, but are solid rock.
Painted Desert
Spanish explorers in 1540 looking for routes between the Rio Grande to the Pacific coast passed through the area and called it “El Desierto Pintado”, the “Painted Desert”.
The Painted Desert runs throughout the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a high desert region involving the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The Colorado Plateau has the greatest concentration of National Parks in the country.
The Painted Desert is stunning with lavender, gray, blue, red, orange, and pink colors in the landscape. The colors come from abundant iron and manganese compounds in the rock layers. Its a dry terrain where soft sedimentary rock is eroded by wind and water leaving steep slopes with minimal vegetation. Canyons, ravines, gullies, buttes, hoodoos, and other geologic formations occur. It was difficult to capture the intensity of the colors.
Early People
The earliest inhabitants arrived about 8,000 years ago.
There are numerous petroglyphs, thought to be up to 2,000 years old. Looks like a large bird pecking some unfortunate person and an alien visitor.
We hiked daily taking in the colors of the Painted Desert. Jake is always willing to pose.
There were rare animal sightings. A couple of crows building a nest and a pronghorn antelope.
Petrified Forest at sunset.
