Drive-through Petrified Forest National Park

Right off Interstate-40 east of Holbrook, Arizona is the Petrified Forest National Park. We stumbled upon the park when we were heading from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona. The park is a 28-mile drive with stops at overlooks, trails, and exhibits at the Visitor’s Center and Museum.

The trails range from 0.3 miles to 2.6 miles, all of which are paved or graveled. We had our pups in tow and although it the park is dog-friendly, we opted for overlooks with the hot July weather. This way we could keep the car running, and stay cool!

Painted Desert

Created over millions of years, the Painted Desert includes multicolored layers of stone.

Crystal Forest

Petrified trees and logs can be found sparkling like colorful crystals at Crystal Forest. These ancient logs are over 200 million years old and the colors inside represent trace minerals in quartz.

Puerco Pueblo

Ancient Pueblo people inhabited this area between 1250 AD and 1380 AD. Here, petroglyphs are found on Newspaper Rock.

Blue Mesa

The unique layers of rock formations at Blue Mesa can be found in blue, gray, brown, and purple.

Historic Route 66

A segment of the mother road ran through the park, and although it is no longer in use there is a viewpoint to see a few remains of the roadway, including the line of old telephone poles.

Agate Bridge

Agate Bridge is a petrified log over a ravine. The log is 110 feet long, and since 1917 has been supported with concrete so it’s structure would remain in place.

For more on national parks, read about our visit to the amazing Grand Canyon National Park.