I have to make a confession: Petrified Forest National Park trip was my BIGGEST FAILURE as a travel blogger in all my 20+ years of travel experience. I waited almost a year since our trip to write this article because I could not believe how much I UNDERESTIMATED this gem of a place! I want to tell you all about the wonderful things to do in Petrified Forest National Park, but most importantly, my goal is to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that I did when planning our visit to Petrified Forest National Park and don’t experience the same anguish.
Things to Know Before You Go
Petrified Forest National Park is located in Northern Arizona. It is one of the least visited National Parks in the U.S. with about 800,000 visitors per year compared to over 6 million visitors to Grand Canyon National Park, which is also located in Northern Arizona. Most people associate this Park with ancient petrified wood – and this is the first mistake. There are many more things to do in Petrified Forest National Park than just looking at petrified wood pieces.
Petrified Forest National Park is located about 100 miles from Flagstaff, not too far from HW-40. There are no major metropolitan hubs here, the place is practically in the middle of nowhere, so the drive should be easy and fast, right? WRONG!
Turns out HW-40 is a major East – West interstate with a TON of trucks that are SLOW. But even though they are slow, some of them think they are fast and try to overtake their colleagues on a 2 lanes freeway. So if you think you will get to Petrified Forest National Park pretty fast, think twice. More often than not you will be stuck behind 2 trucks that won’t let each other pass. I have travelled a lot all over the U.S. I have not seen such a concentration of trucks anywhere else. So budget some extra time to get to the Park.
If you are travelling to Petrified Forest National Park from Flagstaff you will be intrigued by the signs directing you to the Meteor Crater which is located right on HW-40 about half way between Flagstaff and the National Park. It is a fascinating place and you will be compelled to stop for a quick look at this wonder. In your head you will think: I will kill 2 birds with 1 stone and won’t loose much time because in the end a crater is just a huge hole in the ground, right? WRONG!
There is SO MUCH to do at the Meteor Crater besides the crater itself! There is a museum with hands-on exhibits, a movie, a 4D experience, presentations, guided tours… Our “quick 20 minutes” stop turned into 3 hours! I am not telling you you shouldn’t stop at the Meteor Crater – you absolutely, definitely must visit this place, just not on the same day you have planned things to do in Petrified Forest National Park if you budgeted only 1 day for this trip. Just look for yourself how amazing this unique attraction is:
As I mentioned earlier Petrified National Park is famous for petrified wood, i.e. ancient wood turned into stone over millions of years. You may think a petrified log is just a piece of stone, if you have seen a couple, you have seen them all (especially if you saw them at other locations before), right? WRONG!
Each log in Petrified Forest National Park is unique and beautiful because it turned into a different stone. You will see logs sparkling with quarts crystals like diamonds. Other logs will be purple because of amethyst inclusions, and other logs will be red and black which looked to me like agate, and so on. So you will want to see every log and there are hundreds of them, and this is just at the Visitor Center. So if you plan to promptly glance at the logs and move on to different things to do at Petrified Forest National Park, your plan will flop on its belly.
Additional WARNING about the Visitor Center: it has a small dinosaur exhibit with a corresponding gift shop. If you have dinosaur fans in your family, like I do, good luck dragging them out past the Visitor Center doors in a quick fashion! 🙂
Another culprit to be aware of: in Spring, Summer and Fall Petrified Forest National Park closes at 5 pm. When we visited in winter it was closing at 4 pm so you don’t have much time in a day to see the Park to begin with. Therefore if you count the driving, the potential distractions and the magnitude of the things to do in Petrified Forest National Park, I think it is very hard to see everything it has to offer in a day.
Alas, my plan was doomed from the very beginning but I sincerely hope that this article will help you plan your trip to Petrified Forest National Park more wisely.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park
Below is a list of things that you must not miss in Petrified Forest National Park.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #1 Visitor Center
As I mentioned before, the Visitor Center has a small museum called Rainbow Forest Museum with some cool dinosaur skeletons. But most importantly it has all the information about how petrified wood was created, so definitely spend some time looking through the exhibits.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #2 Giant Logs Trail
Giant Logs Trail is a short 0.4 mile trail that starts right from the Rainbow Forest Museum. Here you will see the most impressive colorful logs that are the biggest by volume. The trail is paved and it looked pretty manageable with strollers but I am not sure about wheelchairs because of a couple steps involved here and there. Therefore, I wouldn’t call it accessible.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #3 Long Logs Trail
Long Logs Trail is roughly 1.6 loop trail that starts from the Rainbow Forest Museum parking lot. Here you can see very long petrified wood logs and some gorgeous vistas of the surrounding area.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #4 Agate House
The trail to Agate House starts from the Long Logs Trail, which is is an additional 2 miles round trip hike. At your destination you will be able to see the remains of a 700 years old pueblo built from petrified wood.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #5 Crystal Forest
Crystal Forest 0.75 miles loop trail starts off the main road going through the Park. Here you can see petrified wood logs with sparkling crystals deposits.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #6 Agate Bridge
Agate bridge is just 1 petrified log curiosity that spans a small ravine. People used to stand on the log to take picture and it was damaged. Now there is a support structure under it and visitors are not allowed to climb on it. There isn’t much of a hike here just something unusual to look at right next to the road.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #7 Blue Mesa
Blue Mesa is one of the most beautiful hikes in Petrified Forest National Park. It is a 1 mile loop which is a bit steep in the beginning. On this trail you will be able to see colored badlands hills.
Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park: #8 The Tepees
This is another curiosity right next to the Petrified Forest road – cool hills with colored soil layers.
Additional Tips For Visiting Petrified Forest National Park
1. The sun makes a big difference in your experience at the Park. It makes the logs with crystals sparkle like diamonds. Try to plan your trip to Petrified Forest National Park on a sunny day.
2. There are a couple things you need to know about the weather in the area. Winters can be cold and windy. The cold didn’t bother me too much but the wind was pretty strong so it was a little hard to walk against it. That said, we enjoyed the fact that the Park was not crowded in winter. Summers can be pretty hot and there isn’t much shade in the Park, just be mindful of that.
3. When we visited there were no concessions open in Petrified Forest National Park so I would suggest to have plenty of water with you and food as well.
4. Petrified wood is very pretty so it is a big draw for collectors and it also costs a lot. But remember, there is NO wood collecting allowed in the park. Your car may be checked by a ranger when you exit the Park.
5. If you want to get a piece of petrified wood as a memory of your visit with you, stop at one of the gift stores right outside the National Park. The items for sale in these stores didn’t come from the Park but from private lands.
6. If you have time, definitely visit the painted Painted Desert located very close by Petrified Forest National Park. It is a vast area with beautiful colored hills that is great for hiking.
7. Watch our video tour of the Petrified Forest National Park before you go:
If you found this article about things to do in Petrified Forest National Park helpful, please, share it with others as it may help them with their travel plans too.
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