PETRIFIED FOREST & PAINTED DESERT, HOLBROOK, AZ

During our stay in Homolovi State Park we took a drive down to Holbrook, AZ to see the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.  

The park runs north to south (or vice-versa) and only takes a few hours to enjoy, unless you want to walk the trails and spend many more hours exploring.
In the southern portion of the park you'll find the major concentrations of the colorful petrified wood.  As you head further north, you'll begin to notice the colorful banded badlands rising up before you - welcome to the Painted Desert.

The petrified wood in Arizona's park is generally estimated to be around 225 million years old, dating back to the Late Triassic Epoch of the Mesozoic Era. 

Petrified wood forms when the wood is buried under sediment or volcanic ash.  This prevents the wood from decaying due to lack of oxygen.  Over time the groundwater, carrying minerals, seeps into the wood and gradually replaces the organic material with minerals.  This creates stone like replicas of the original wood.  

Petrified wood from Arizona is know to have many colors.  The variety of colors is caused by different oxidation states of iron, which is the dominant coloring element for petrified wood in Arizona.

The variations in the colors and the size of some of the logs are a sight to behold.  As are the size of the wood as you can see with me standing beside one.





One can also find petroglyphs at the park.  We were able to find a few.  Unfortunately, the sun prevented us from getting really clear pictures of them.  These are the best shots we took.




We are so glad we had the time to visit there while we were in Arizona.  We know there is so much more to see in our country.  We'll keep traveling on.

Tally Ho!


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