painted desert

Fun national park for the kids. My six year old is just now getting into the dinosaur fossil rock phase and this stop was right up his alley. Add to the mix all the petroglyphs and ruins and he just thought he was being mr scientist. My wife loved the views of the painted desert. We could not have asked for a better day colors were amazing and weather was great. We stopped on our way to the Grand Canyon. Great fun. If your kids are into fossils and ancient Indian cultures it is worth a look.

Our 2/29/15 visit was cold, windy, and sometimes rainy. Bring a heavy coat and hat! We didn't have time to see the Petrified Forest, so saw the Painted Desert north of I-40. There are several scenic stops with explanatory signs. Even from the car you can see why the Spanish gave it this name! You can enter a no-longer used small inn in which had more common rooms than guest rooms! Very retro. Buy gas near Flagstaff or Albuquerque because gas in between is expensive.

A mere $10.00 entrance fee for each vehicle gives you the opportunity to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. Kachina Point and Rim Trail both offer extensive views of the Painted Desert. This is a great park to visit the great logs (located a the Giant Logs Trail) to shorter trails like the Crystal Forest Trail which is 0.8 mile trail. You will witness several palettes of color all along the park. The park encompasses 28 miles with overlooks of the Painted Desert and wilderness. Easy access off the I-40 East, 280 to US 180 East from Holbrook to South Entrance, drive North in park to I-40.

Spectacular geography.. Our grandsons loved it ! Beautiful sunny day really brought out the colors in the park ! This is a must see in the area... One of our national treasures! We always enjoy our national parks and this was a fun day in a magnificent park!

The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert are connected. Definitely worth driving through. The trees in the Petrified Forest lived over 200 million years ago. Saw petroglyphs from a distance at Newspaper Rock. Painted Desert Inn which is a National Historic Landmark was interesting to see with a menu showing food prices as lost as 15 cents for an ice cream sundae.

You need to know that the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert are both in the same park. You can enter at the north entrance where the Painted Desert visitor centre is or at the south entrance where the Petrified Forest Visitor centre is. The road is 28 miles and leads you through the entire park. We brought a lunch, water and snacks and were glad we did since there are food options only at the start and ending of the trail. We came from Flagstaff so we entered at the south gate. Before you enter the park there are two gift shops selling petrified wood items. The one on the right was the one we visited and we were amazed at the products on display that were made from the petrified wood. It also has some dinosaur bones and various native artifacts to see. I thought it was worth a stop. It costs $10 per car to enter the park (good for 7 days) and you will get a newspaper that has a map inside of all the stops. It will come in handy. You are also reminded to not pick up rock souvenirs. the first stop from the south entrance is the Petrified Forest visitor centre. This has lots of displays about dinosaurs as well as a 20 minute film about how the wood became petrified. Very informative and well done. You walk out the back door of the centre to a short paved trail where petrified wood is found in abundance. There are stairs but even if you can't climb them, you will see lots of wood. We then did the hike to the agate house which is a native home ruins site made of petrified wood. The vistas as you walk to this are quite nice and there is lots of wood along the trail although I wish I had saved my hike of the day to the Blue Mesa badlands trail. The Agate fallen tree was a disappointment to me so if you're short on time, you won't miss much if you don't stop. You MUST do the Blue Mesa loop drive and please stop at the trail head and walk part of this trail into the badlands. We only walked for about 10 minutes one way and then back and got some amazing vistas that you can't get in your car. I hope to come back some day and do the entire 40 minute walk. There are many places to stop along this loop and you will want to. You will drive by the teepees which are striped mountains. Amazing. We then stopped at the Newspaper Rock which has the telescope viewers to see the native petroglyphs. Challenge: Can you find the well endowed male figure? From there we drove up to the rusty car by the side of the road that shows where the old Route 66 used to be. There are then 3 lookouts for the Painted Desert. Each is amazing in its own way. The colours and the expanse of what you are looking at can not be captured in a photo. Very special and very memorable. If you have time, stop at the Painted Desert Inn which has quite a history, washrooms and a great look out point. Didn't stop at the visitor center at the north end. To do all this took us from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It's a day I won't forget soon.

This is a very different landscape. A very beautifull one. However, the trip is worthy if you also visit the petrified forest.

I had been there once before during the middle of summer and did not enjoy it as much as going this past winter. If you go during the cooler months, the temperature is pleasant so you can go for walks and enjoy the beauty of the area without the extreme heat. Give yourself enough time to enjoy the park, so that you don't feel rushed.

Looking at photos of the painted desert and hearing about it from another person is one thing, its a whole other thing to see! The colors are so beautiful and the hills/mountains/mesas with all of their pastels will have you in awe of mother nature. Be sure to stop by the painted desert inn to learn more about its history and get your passports stamped at the visitors center (If you dont have a national park passport, you really need to get one!)

The Painted desert and petrified forest National Park was one of the highlights of my recent Route 66 road trip. It was a 35 (or so) mile scenic drive through the park with lots of parking areas with short easy walks to scenic view points. It took us hours to wind our way through the park and even then I felt rushed as there were walking trails that we hadn't had time to explore. Although the petrified forest/logs was interesting to read about I though the 'painted desert' was visually much more spectacular. My advice is to factor in 3-4 hours to see this properly. We arrived after lunch and left just before the park closed at sunset and I suspect the sunlight would have been more impressive in the morning, remembering we were there in winter ..

I was always intrigued by the idea of petrified wood and finally got to visit the Petrified Forest National Park last summer The petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock and Painted Desert are prime examples of why you should save more time to savor sights in the National Park System: they often offer more than their names suggest! The painted desert was a wonderful sight with the red rock & contrasting blue skies. There is a short hike you can go on to explore the area a bit. We stayed at Holbrook and visited the Painted Desert first (entering via the North Entrance) simply because the color of the rock shows better in the morning than in the afternoon. Even in May, the temperatures were pretty high so make sure you wear sunscreen & stock up on water.

The National Park Service does a wonderful job safeguarding our national treasures. The Pained Desert/Petrifed Forest is one of those treasures. The Painted Desert is beautiful especially at sunrise and sunset. The Petrified Forest is unbelievable with petrified logs lying all over the desert. There is a Visitor Center.

We weren't planning on touring, but we had a picnic lunch with us and were looking for a spot to eat. Saw this on the map, turned into the north entrance, talked to a ranger and took his advice for a detour. So glad we did. Not an overwhelming vista, like many other places in the Southwest, but a very sedate, subtle landscape with the pastel colors best absorbed and appreciated slowly. Thoroughly enjoyed the turnouts and enjoyed lunch at the picnic area at Chinde Point. One of those wonderful, spur-of-the-moment stops on a great vacation!

If you ever have a chance to see this place - please make sure you take it! Didn't really know what to expect, but the views and colours are just stunning. A unique experience.

A visit to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest were on my bucket list as I head out to Tucson. This is a must see, spectacular color, views and interesting. Ten dollars per car for a 28 mi scenic route.