Petrified Forest N.P. AZ (PEFO)

 All the National Parks and Monuments use a four-letter designation that is comprised of the first four letters of the park name if it’s one word or the first two letters of each if it’s two. Follow? For instance, Shenandoah N.P. is SHEN, while Petrified Forest is PEFO. The only one that doesn’t follow this pattern is Carlsbad Caverns because if it did, it would be CACA. It is CAVE instead, and, while it’s cool to have the name reflect the main attraction of the park — the only other one that does that is Arches as ARCH — I think the fact that it isn’t CACA is, well, caca. But enough of that, let’s take a look at our time at the properly designated PEFO.

 Because we stayed at Bluewater more than twice as long as originally planned, the time had to be trimmed from future stays, and PEFO was one of them. We had pared it down to just under two full days but not to worry. As almost any review of this park you read will tell you, there isn’t a whole lot to do in the area, and I won’t refute that. You will also read that if you like to walk around looking at big chunks of petrified wood, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to Heaven. We don’t so we didn’t, but we also knew there was a little bit more to the place than that.

FREE!

We stayed at the Crystal Forest Campground, which is a gravel lot next to the Crystal Forest Gift Shop, and is offered to fully-contained rigs for the bargain rate of zero dollars. With no hookups, it would be a miserable choice in the middle of summer, but we lucked out with some less-hot weather and plenty of breezes.
 

TBG says, “We’re here, we have to.”

For our first afternoon, we decided to get some of the obligatory rock-gazing out of the way with a 2.6 mile loop.

Petrified wood. Rocks. Whatever.

For eagle-eyed observers, there was more to see than just rocks.

Is this what scared all the wood?

Only ants are askeered of baby prickle frogs.

For our full day, we had plans to explore one of the “off the beaten path” hikes in the Painted Desert, as well as some point-of-interest stops along the 26-mile road that transects the park and connects the two Visitor Centers.

TBG is the sign for the Blue Forest hike.

he park’s brochure directs those interested to a web link for some more strenuous and lesser-known treks. We considered an 8.5 mile listing, but the handy photo-enhanced downloadable directions didn’t look as pretty as the 3-mile one, so we chose the shorter of the two.

The first half mile or so was flat walking.

That didn’t last for long.

The blue-gray formations that give this area its name.

The Painted Desert

Gaining about 500′ to traverse the ridgelines.

Putting the ‘pee’ in Petrified.

 

It helps when someone’s behind you, shouting encouragement like, “Stand up straight!” and “There is a ton of traction here!” It all made me want to start crawling is what it did.

 

The high point, where I considered just living forever rather than hike back down.

 

I’m glad the picture-trail-guide thingie did not make this hike look as scary as it was in a few sections because, if it had, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It was a beautiful hike, though, and such a good way to experience the less-petrified part of the park.

After our morning jaunt, we motored up to the Painted Desert VC, which is a large, very nice facility with two stores, a café, and a pretty courtyard area.

A kitty-cat sculpture guards the courtyard.

 On our way back south through the park, we stopped at the Painted Desert Inn, a restored inn-turned-museum. There we found the inspiration for the above sculpture.

A petroglyph that was removed intact and brought to the inn for display.

We noticed the difference between the two immediately. Do you see it? Hint: The sculpture is clearly of the male persuasion while the petroglyph is not. I regret not asking the docent why.

We next stopped to see Newspaper Rock, so named for its over 650 petroglyphs left by ancestral passers-by as messages and stories.

I wonder who counted?

Disappointingly, the rocks can only be viewed from a high observation platform, making them difficult to see or to appreciate the overall size of the display.

One more short stop to walk the .75 mile Crystal Forest Loop to see more…

It is pretty close-up.

We wanted to throw a little business to the shop on whose property we were parked, but we didn’t need a $6K 12-ton petrified wood end table, so the best we could do was buy a couple sodas before heading out. It is a mystery to me how those shops stay in business with such a massive pricey inventory that mostly attracts dust instead of buyers.

That concludes our time at PEFO. In our opinion, a day-and-a-half was the perfect amount of time to spend at the park, and a non-obnoxious amount of time to spend parked for free.

Our next stop was Homolovi State Park, not so much for anything the park had to offer (which, again, wasn’t very much) but rather for its water and electric hookups and proximity to Winslow for supplies.

The last 50A site?!

All the reviews we’d read about this park indicated it was never crowded, kind of underwhelming in the things-to-do category, and windy. The second two proved true for our stay, but we were lucky to get the last site with 50A power. We wanted that versus 30A, of which plenty were available when we arrived, so that we could get caught up on some laundry. Had we not arrived earlier than we normally do, we would’ve run out of underwear. By nightfall, our loop was just about full, but thankfully very quiet.

I don’t feel like I can adequately speak about this park because we didn’t even walk its few short trails or see the ruins. We caught up on internet stuff, cooking, laundry, and getting stocked up for our next foray which will be a week of boondocking.

We were in Winslow during a 2016 vacation and visited The Corner, which you can read about here on the old blog if you need an excuse to not do something else. If you need to get going, here’s a photographic summary:

 

Before hitting the Safeway, though, we stopped in to see the famous La Posada Hotel.

 

TBG models the boots he made for himself. From scratch!

The hotel is lovely as are the gardens, which are being restored. I loved the myriad patios and balconies and breezeways. The trains continue to run directly behind the property — it was a railway hotel, after all — but that part has definitely lost its charm. We didn’t care at all for the artwork by Tina Mion, but she owns the place, so what can you do?

We’ll be in Arizona for the rest of the year because that’s what people do when they retire from northern states. Who are we to blow against the wind?

COMMENTS

chapter3travels See? I am NOT an eagle eyed observer and I would NOT have noticed that stupid tarantula if you didn’t point it out. #badfriend

That hike you did was really cool, though I can see why it would be scary – especially the coming down part. Bet you’re glad you had new hiking boots with good tread, but yeah, still. Scary stuff. The picture with TBG walking across the ridge is awesome. I agree with your assessment that 1.5 days at Petrified is plenty. We just drove there for one full day and feel like we got a good feel for it. Can you imagine doing a long term volunteer gig at a place like that? Oof.

Also, congratulations on bringing Jackson Browne into the Me Too movement. Sheesh.

Nice boots, TBG!

Chasing Dirt At least I warned you that here there be spyders. #veryconsideratefriend No, I definitely would not enjoy a long-term volunteer gig there! It was hard to imagine ancestral people living in such an inhospitable place. And they didn’t have good boots like me! Don’t worry about Jackson Browne — do you see how he’s dressed?! 😛

Shannon You know your life as an RVer is far removed from your former life when you look forward to visiting Winslow, Arizona because of all the urban services it offers. And I speak from personal experience here, since we chose to get haircuts at the Walmart in Winslow last March in what turned into one of the more memorable experiences of feeling out of our element. Now that I am aware of the tarantula infestation, we will be sure never to visit that area again, so I don’t need to worry about repeating the Walmart experience. You definitely spent the correct amount of time in these places! It’s always nice when predictions and expectations about a location actually work out.

Chasing Dirt Yeeeaaahhh, Walmart haircuts! 😁 I actually keep forgetting they have those in-store and could use another baseline cut for TBG to work from. You are so right, though, isn’t it funny how our perspectives adapt out on the road? As a lifelong arachnophobe, I understand the initial distaste for the tarantula. But they’ve sort of grown on me over the last year. Not that I need a pet one or anything. Way better than the kinds you don’t see till they’re ON you. 🥺

Laurel We really liked the Petrified Forest, but I think I found it uniquely beautiful because the light was stunning when we visited. And we were only there for a couple of hours. I’ve been wanting to return, but I’ll heed your warning of “no more than a day and a half.” 🙂 And we really like Homolovi, too—so we’re definitely the oddballs here, huh?

That tarantula? I keep looking at it and it looks WEIRD. I cannot figure out which body part is which, other than the legs, which of course I can figure out. It’s creepy! But I love the baby prickle frog. Speaking of weird, Tina Mion’s artwork is indeed bizarre. But we had fun looking at it. So glad you enjoyed La Posada and the gardens—the photo you took of TBG in his new boots is awesome!

Love the photo of you and Jackson, hahaha!! I didn’t know you two were such close friends!

Chasing Dirt We did like PEFO for what it was, but short & sweet is the way to go. And, yes, you are the oddballs 😂 The tarantula looks weird cuz it’s sort of on its head. We thought it was dead at first, but then it kicked its hind legs a bit, so we think it was digging a burrow. We did enjoy Posada — I love the feel of that type of building — and we thank you for the recommendation. TBG picked out that backdrop for his photo 🙂 Yeah, me and JB are pretty tight! Ha.

Laurel TBG has an excellent eye for color and composition. I’m impressed!

Lowe's Travels I think you have a thing for prickle frog, or are they following you?
Since you have been pet setting for cats, I bet you know more about them that is why you knew right away something was different. I have to look up and down and see what is different.
You were petrified? you climbed the summit at that mountain ( I already forgot its name) in Great Basin NP! You sure make our brains work and be observant as we read your adventures.
I love those poses at the corner, we have not been there! Imagine that 🙂

Chasing Dirt I think the prickle frogs are definitely following me! Good thing I love them. I *was* petrified on a couple of sections of that trail, even more than Wheeler Peak which never had sheer edges though was much higher. You saying I make your brains work is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my blogging💛