Petrified

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Yes, indeed, it was cold overnight. Our water hoses froze, but we don't think they were damaged. We didn't waste any time getting out of the RV site, and headed west to cross the border into Arizona, then north to I-40 and the Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert is on the north side of I-40, and the Petrified Forest is on the south side. There is a VC just outside the entrance, so we stopped there for our stamps and to watch the video. It was really a good one, and mentioned the theft problem they have. It claimed they lose approximately one ton of petrified wood per month. At that rate, there won't be much left for future generations to see. As you enter the park they ask if you have any with you, and as you leave they ask if you took any. Like someone is going to admit if they took some! It is a $325 fine if caught with some, and that should probably be higher.

The Painted Desert section showed lots of colors, with reds predominant.

We stopped at most of the turnouts, and toured the old Painted Desert Inn, then went south to the Petrified Forest area. Again, we stopped at most of the turnouts.  We took the short walk up to the ruins of the Puerco Pueblo.

There was a sign posted saying there had been aggressive bees in the area, so Betty had to sit that one out. We went on to see the tepees, layered blue, purple and gray cone shaped formations that are colored by iron, carbon, and other minerals.

This is one of the many "tepees" in the park.

The Jasper Forest was next, where erosion of the rocky bluff has strewn petrified logs across the valley.

Many of the logs are very beautiful.

Such brilliant colors.

Then came the Crystal Forest Trail. It was an easy almost mile long trail through all kinds of petrified log chunks that were very colorful. They say the logs used to hold glassy amethyst and quartz crystals, but most have been taken. How sad that we don't all try to preserve these areas.

Our final stop in the Petrified Forest was at the Rainbow Forest museum. They have a slab of very colorful red petrified wood in there that weighs about 800 lbs.  It is probably 6 to 8 inches thick and maybe 3 feet across. It has been highly polished and was beautiful.  We were sort of tired out by then, so didn't take the trails there. They have one log along the path there that is the largest in the park, and they call it "Old Faithful."

This is not "Old Faithful" but is a large petrified log. Betty and Barney checking it out.

From the park we headed southwest to the town of Showlow, hoping to stay in the WalMart parking lot overnight. As we neared town, Wilma had looked it up and found that the Showlow WalMart does not permit overnight parking. We stopped at Taco Bell for some fortification, and went out to WalMart to check it out. There was an area across the road from the parking lot that had several RVs already parked for the night, so we joined them. It was quite cold, but we were happy to have a place to pull off for the night without having to shell out big bucks.

 
On to Phoenix tomorrow.
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