Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park is a truly underrated place to visit with an absolutely fascinating geological history. Not only are there incredible pieces of petrified wood, but you’ll also see colorful badlands, marvel at the Painted Desert scenery, and experience the nostalgia of Route 66.

It’s hard to believe that these petrified logs were buried underwater, mineralized over time, and then eventually uplifted with the Colorado Plateau over hundreds of millions of years ago!

Petrified Forest National Park is a relatively small park, so it is easy to drive through and see the sights and short hikes in just one day. It often gets overshadowed by other amazing places in Arizona, so you won’t have crowding issues here.

Best Things to Do in Petrified Forest

RAINBOW FOREST MUSEUM & GIANT LOGS TRAIL: The Rainbow Forest Museum is home to exhibits, a gift shop, and a park movie. Behind the museum is the Giant Logs Trail, an easy 0.7-mile walk that features the largest and most colorful petrified logs in the park.

LONG LOGS TRAIL: This 1.6-mile trail contains some of the longest logs in the park. You’ll also get a view of the grey and purple badlands that are located in the park.

CRYSTAL FOREST TRAIL: This trail features some colorful petrified wood in an easy loop trail.

JASPER FOREST OVERLOOK: The Jasper Forest Overlook is a short, paved loop with a view that overlooks the colorful grey, blue, and purple badlands. You are also allowed to wander among the petrified wood pieces off-trail here.

AGATE BRIDGE: This is a quick stop to see a 100-foot long petrified log spanning the length of a gulley. 

BLUE MESA SCENIC DRIVE:  Immerse yourself in the purple, blue, and pink striped bentonite clay badlands and hoodoos via a 3.5-mile paved scenic drive.

BLUE FOREST & BLUE MESA TRAILS: Located off the Blue Mesa Scenic Drive, the Blue Mesa Trail is a 1-mile loop trail through some stunning bentonite clay badlands. The Blue Forest Trail extends off of the Blue Mesa Trail and will extend your hike by another 2.4 miles. 

PAINTED DESERT INN: The Painted Desert Inn is a National Historic Landmark, but it used to be a hotel back in the heyday of Route 66. Visitors could stop to get a bite to eat and rest along their journey. There are some neat museum displays, a gift shop, and an ice cream parlor inside.

PUERCO PUEBLO: The Puerco Pueblo site houses the remains of a 100-room pueblo dwelling that you can explore via a short trail.

ROUTE 66 STUDEBAKER: The old Studebaker marks the spot of the original Route 66 to pay homage to the past. The old telephone lines mark the path of the original road. They say it’s the most photographed abandoned car in the country, so you definitely can’t miss it!

KACHINA POINT: Kachina Point is a gorgeous viewpoint that overlooks the red part of the Painted Desert and marks the beginning of the Painted Desert Rim Trail.

When to Visit

The best time to visit Petrified Forest National Park is in the spring or fall. This area of Arizona is a semi-arid desert, meaning temperatures can be over 100 degrees in the summer and drop below freezing at night in the winter. 

July through September is monsoon season at Petrified Forest where the park often experiences severe thunderstorms, lightning, and flash flooding. I would avoid visiting then, for obvious reasons.

Petrified Forest can also get quite windy, especially in the spring. We visited at the very end of March 2024 and had an extremely windy day. This unfortunately caused us to cut some of our hiking plans short because the wind made being outside much less enjoyable.

Visiting later in the spring before monsoon season or in the fall is best if you want the best weather. 

How Many Days Do You Need?

You only need one day to visit Petrified Forest National Park in order thoroughly explore all that it offers. You can even see all the highlights in just half a day. 

If you want to explore at a more leisurely pace, you could spend one and a half or two days here.

How to Get There

Petrified Forest National Park is located in eastern Arizona, about 100 miles east of Flagstaff off of Interstate 40. It is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, with the closest town being Holbrook.

Albuquerque and Phoenix are your closest airports to get to Petrified Forest, but they are still 3 and 3.5 hours away, respectively.

There are two entrances into Petrified Forest National Park: enter from the north off of I-40 or south off of US-180. There is one main road that goes through the park and connects the two entrance gates. All of the attractions are located off of this road.

Since it only takes a day to thoroughly visit here and it is far from any major city, I recommend visiting on a longer Arizona road trip to maximize your time out west. 

Where to Stay

Since Petrified Forest National Park is in the middle of nowhere, there aren’t a lot of amenities nearby. I recommend staying in Flagstaff and making a day trip out to Petrified Forest during your trip to Arizona. Flagstaff also puts you much closer to some of northern Arizona’s best attractions, like the Grand Canyon, Page, and Sedona.

It will take you about an hour and a half to drive from Flagstaff to Petrified Forest, but there are lots of hotels, restaurants, breweries, and cool shops here to make a comfortable and fun home base for exploring northern Arizona.

If Flagstaff is a bit too far for you and you’d like to stay closer, Holbrook and Winslow have some quirky, Route 66-esque hotels that would make for a fun stay. 

There are no accommodations or campgrounds inside Petrified Forest National Park. So much petrified wood has been stolen that they have to close the park at night.

Camping is allowed in the Painted Desert Wilderness Area located north of the park. Grab a free backpacking permit from one of the visitor’s centers on the day you want to backpack. Beware that in order to camp here, you have to hike at least half a mile away from your vehicle.