The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

We slept in this morning, since we weren't going far; Holbrook is only about an hour from Winslow. We had a little bit of a scare before we checked out, since I couldn't find one of the two fancy keys that they'd given us. I searched high and low through the hotel, removing cushions from chairs and looking under furniture. The key never showed up, and I had visions of a $200 key replacement fee. Kathy and I prayed about it, and, in the end, they just asked us to send it back if we found it, and didn't charge us anything.

We stopped at Safeway for another of their great ham and egg breakfast sandwiches, and were on the road, listening to Tony Hillerman's The Dark Wind. This time Chee, Leaphorn and Bernie are trying to solve a murder related to a "lost" gold mine. The Sinister Pig ended with Jim finally telling Bernie that he loved her, and the redemption of the villain with a heart of gold. A very satisfactory ending.

After an hour, we turned off US 40 onto Exit 311 and used our National Parks Pass for only the second time. Kathy hadn't signed it when she bought it, so the ranger at the gate wouldn't let us in until she did. You can drive the 28 miles through the park from north to south, as we did, or vice-versa. Since we started from the north gate, the first section was the Painted Desert.

Since we had all day, we purposed to visit every sight and walk every trail. We came close to doing it. Our first stop was the Painted Desert Rim Trail, starting at Tawa Point and going to the Painted Desert Inn. This early 20th Century Pueblo Revival style building originally consisted of fifteen small rooms rented to tourists, but was then turned over to the Fred Harvey company for staff housing. Now it is a museum that has the largest petroglyph discovered in the region. Unfortunately, like many sights, it's now closed for Covid. 

Our next stop was the Puerco Pueblo and the banks of the Puerco river. This site was inhabited from about 1200 to 1400, after Walnut Canyon. Only the footings and a Kiva remain of the old pueblo. The most interesting part was the petroglyphs. 

Leaving Puerco Pueblo, we stopped at Newspaper Rock which has over 600 petroglyphs on one rock. Unfortunately, you can't get close. (Probably fortunately for the paintings.) Instead, you stand on an overlook and study them through binoculars which are mounted there. I used my phone's telephoto feature to take this picture, but you still can't see much.

Along the way, we stopped and took a picture of these interesting formations, called the Teepees.

Right after that, we saw our first petrified log, laying right next to the road. You would swear that it was wood, but when you touched it, you saw that it was really stone.

Our next stop was the badlands of Blue Mesa. This is a 1.2 mile trail from the top of the mesa, down to the valley floor. It is a very steep descent.

On the floor, the path takes a loop which walks past even more fallen petrified logs. 

Once we walked back up, our next stop was the Agate Bridge, a 110 foot petrified tree which fell across a ravine. In the early 1900s tourists would pose for photos standing on the tree. In 1915, a concrete abutment was added below the tree to support it. Even with the support, though, tourists are no longer allowed to walk across it.

By this time, it was almost 4 pm, and our resolve to walk every trail had faltered. We visited the overlook at Jaspar Forest, and skipped the Krystal Forest (which looked similar to Blue Mesa), and Agate House, which required a mile walk.

We made one last stop at the visitor's center, to buy a legal piece of petrified wood for our own, and to walk the final Trail of Giant Logs. All in all, though, we satisfied our petrified wood itch. Almost.

We got back to Holbrook around 6 pm and checked into our room, Teepee #3 at the Wigwam Motel #6. We arrived too late to take a picture, so I stole this one from the Web. I'll have one with Kathy and I in the morning. 

We hadn't really eaten a meal all day. The Fred Harvey's in the park was closed. So, we were famished. It turned out, though, that Kathy's petrified wood itch, wasn't quite scratched. On our way to dinner we went to Jim Gray's Petrified Wood and picked out a few pieces for our grandchildren. I saw a small log that I liked. It was about 8-inches round and 18 inches high. It cost $1,800 and weighed 600 pounds. 

Tomorrow, we're leaving Arizona, and heading for Gallup and Albuquerque in New Mexico.