Petrified Forest National Park is named for its large deposits of petrified wood.
It has no accommodations within the park. There are also no campground and no dispersed camping. The only option if you want to spend a night in the park is to get a wilderness permit and camp in the Wilderness Area to spend at least a half mile from your vehicle.
Pay attention to the time because the only two entrance gates close for the night.
Petrified Forest National Park is known for its fossils, especially of fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch of the Mesozoic era, about 225–207 million years ago. During this epoch, the region that is now the park was near the equator on the southwestern edge of the supercontinent Pangaea, and its climate was humid and sub-tropical.
What later became northeastern Arizona was a low plain flanked by mountains to the south and southeast and a sea to the west. Streams flowing across the plain from the highlands deposited inorganic sediment and organic matter, including trees as well as other plants and animals that had entered or fallen into the water. Although most organic matter decays rapidly or is eaten by other organisms, some is buried so quickly that it remains intact and may become fossilized.
Within the park, the sediments containing the fossil logs for which the park is named are part of the Chinle Formation, easily recognizable by the many colors that gave name to the Painted Desert.
Discover more from Overlanding travel log
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.