Where can you see beautifully colored desert formations, crystallized wood, and Triassic period fossils? You guessed it … Petrified Forest National Park!! But Petrified Forest NP is over 340 square miles. To help guide your adventures in this amazing wonderland, our adventure travel family is bringing you our list of 10 things to do in Petrified Forest National Park with Kids! Join our adventures as we guide you through the park from one entrance to the other on a day trip from Sedona.
Lay Out of the Park
The Painted Desert area is located near the northern entrance of Petrified Forest NP. The actual Painted Desert extends over 150 miles from the eastern end of the Grand Canyon into Petrified Forest NP. Much of the Painted Desert is located in remote areas of the Navajo Nation. However, you can explore a portion of it in the northern part of Petrified Forest National Park.
The southern section of Petrified Forest NP is famous for giant petrified wood formations. The petrified wood was formed when ancient trees were turned into almost solid quartz. They glitter in the most spectacular colors due to iron, carbon, and manganese.
Visitor Information
Disclaimer: Always check the latest information on the park website before you arrive.
Getting to Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park is huge, stretching between I-40 and Highway 180. After leaving the Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, we drove along I-40 towards the northern entrance located near Exit 311.
Lots of little stores selling petrified wood started popping up along the roadside as we neared the northern entrance. Remember, you cannot remove petrified wood from the National Park. So make sure to cross that off your list of things to do in Petrified Forest National Park! However, you can purchase petrified wood from private landowners who sell it locally at these stores.
Our planned route was to follow the 28-mile road connecting the northern entrance of the park to the southern entrance off Highway 180. Follow along for our list of 10 things to do in Petrified Forest National Park.
The Painted Desert Visitor Center
We stopped at the Painted Desert Visitor Center at the north entrance. Here we picked up a map and checked the park’s weather conditions. This is a must when visiting any National Park, especially if you plan to hike.
Petrified Forest is home to a team of paleontologists who prepare fossils discovered in the National Park. We attended a demonstration and learned how fossils are extracted little by little from the larger jackets.
The girls earned both their Petrified Forest National Park and their Jr. Paleontology Junior Ranger Badges during our visit.
Then we were off! The 28-mile Main Park Road connects the northern entrance of the park to the southern entrance. You can stop at the various overlooks and pull-offs to explore the different park areas. I am a huge fan of audio guides when we drive through an area. So, we enjoyed the Shaka Audio Guide for Petrified Forest NP.
The Overlooks & Painted Desert Inn
The drive starts with a loop through the Painted Desert overlooks. These initial views set the tone for the increasingly amazing views of the Painted Desert!
The striated colors on the mesas and buttes were made 200-300 million years ago. At that time, these were part of a shallow sea that contained iron and manganese. The iron and manganese can oxidize to a red color.
So, when the water table was high, there was less oxygen in the ground. As a result, it turned the deposits blue or green.
When the water table was low, there was more oxygen in the ground. As a result, it turned the deposits red, orange, yellow, or pink.
We were immediately awestruck by the colors we saw from the overlooks! As hard as it was to imagine, the colors became even more amazing as we continued along the drive!!!
Historic Route 66
After leaving the overlooks, you cross a segment of the Historic Route 66. This segment of the old road is no longer in use. But, this is a great spot to take some fun photos with the old Studebaker that marks the location.
Newspaper Rock
Continuing south, we visited Newspaper Rock. Which, despite its name, is actually multiple rock faces within a small area. Here, there are over 650 petroglyphs made by the ancestral Puebloan people. The Puebloan people lived, farmed, and hunted along the river in this area between 650 and 2000 years ago.
The Tepees
As we drove further south, we passed through the Tepees. The Tepees derive their name from their conical shape and resemblance to Indian dwellings. Ironically enough, though, actual tepees were not used in Arizona!
The Tepees have thick deposits of grey, blue, purple, and green mudstone, with minor white sandstone beds. The bluish tones make you feel like you are driving on another planet.
Blue Mesa
My favorite part of Petrified Forest was our hike around the Blue Mesa Trail. This easily tops my list of things to do in Petrified Forest National Park! It is an easy 1-mile paved trail. However, there is a steep descent and climb back up at the trailhead. That said, you don’t want to miss this!!
The mesas have beautiful blue, purple, gray, and peach colored striations with scattered pieces of petrified wood. The trail was amazing!
As you descend the paved trail, you feel like you are entering another world. I could have spent hours photographing all the different colors!
Around the Blue Mesa Trail, you start to see petrified wood from the southern part of Petrified Forest National Park.
Jasper Forest
The scenery started to completely change as we continued south through Petrified Forest from the Blue Mesa. Our next stop was the Jasper Forest overlook. Here, we viewed one of the world’s largest accumulations of petrified wood.
There are no trees there now, but millions of years ago, this area was covered in huge trees. Water seeping through the wood replaced the decaying organic material cell by cell with multicolored silica. The color of the resulting petrified wood depends on the minerals in the silica from volcanic ash.
Crystal Forest Trail
Then we did a little more hiking on the Crystal Forest Trail. This is another simple, less-than-a-mile loop that you can’t miss! Along the trail, you get up close to giant pieces of petrified wood.
A dark sky was chasing us for the second half of our visit. Around this time, the rain finally caught up to us. We have found rain to be very different in the desert. It will rain in one place, but be completely dry 20 feet away. It was interesting to see rain falling in dark streaks, surrounded by clear sky.
Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center
We stopped briefly at the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center to check out the exhibits on petrified wood and watch the park movie.
Giant Logs Trail
The storm was coming down pretty hard by the time we reached this point. But the Giant Logs Trail rounds out our list of 10 things to do in Petrified Forest National Park! It starts behind the Visitor Center. It is a short half-mile loop. The star of the trail is Old Faithful – a giant piece of petrified wood. It is 35 feet long and measures 10 feet across at its base! The National Park estimates that Old Faithful weighs about 44 tons!
The Family Verdict
We were driving to the Grand Canyon National Park after our visit, so our time was limited. I had reviewed the park map before our visit and determined what areas our crazy crew would enjoy the most. But there are plenty of other areas in Petrified Forest National Park that you can enjoy. Overall, Petrified Forest is an amazing wonderland of beautiful colors with lots of off-road trails to explore! Definitely one of the most underrated National Parks!!
Make sure to check out our adventures in nearby Montezuma Castle, Slide Rock, Sedona, Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, Petrified Forest National Park, Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley. Also, follow along on our road trip through the American Southwest!
Follow along on our other amazing family travel adventures at www.adventureisinoursouls.com.
