We visited the Petrified Forest National Park on May 3, 2022. We entered through the South entrance, after spending the previous night in Winslow, AZ (on Historic Route 66) and enjoying the downtown homage to that signature tune by The Eagles.
After driving through the closest town, Holbrook, AZ, and driving right by the largest private seller of petrified wood and buying nothing … we arrived at the turn off to the park entrance, and went to the apparently smaller retailer of petrified wood that has a very impressive store right by the entrance. After buying nothing, again, we proceeded on to the main event.
The southern entrance of the park is close to the park museum and gift shop … worth a stop. Then we took a hike to the adjacent Long Logs area of the park to see one of the greatest collections of petrified wood you can walk to in the park: we walked about a mile and a half on a largely paved path. Most of the pix below are from that hike.
After getting blown by 20 MPH winds, gusting to 30 MPH, we proceeded on the drive through the park which took about 4 hours. We stopped at most of the recommended places, though we became discouraged by the 30 MPH winds that were gusting to 40 MPH at this point and did not do a significant hike again. In spite of the wind, we had a great visit and transitioned into the northern section of the park, AKA the Painted Desert. Our timing in May was good with some of the vegetation in it’s growth/flowering cycle.
Please note that our drive through the park was guided by the app “Just Ahead” which is highly recommended. This GPS-triggered app guided us through the park with both driving directions and interesting trivia just as you approached the relevant sections of the park. Highly recommended as the way to visit our national parks … though you may need to download maps while on the hotel’s wifi the night before!
Wildflowers carpet the hillside at Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. The 23,000-acre area is truly an oasis in the desert with four perennial waterways that are the lifeline for this remarkable place. The Gila River canyon section, known as the Gila Box, is composed of patchy mesquite woodlands, mature cottonwoods, sandy beaches and grand buff-colored cliffs. Bonita Creek – popular for birdwatching, hiking and picnicking – is lined with large cottonwoods, sycamores and willows. Cliff dwellings, historic homesteads, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and over 200 species of birds make this year-round watery Arizona spot worth the drive. Photo by Bob Wick. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 4/5/17.
Arizona’s Saguaro. Photo by David Olsen. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 12/16/16.
Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is the second largest wilderness area in Arizona. A campaign by the Arizona Boy Scouts helped establish the refuge in 1939 to protect desert bighorn sheep and other wildlife. The refuge’s name – Kofa – comes from an acronym for one of the area’s most notable mines, the King of Arizona gold mine. Photo of mountains, palo verde & brittlebush by Brian Powell. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 8/18/16.
Taking its name from one of the longest living trees in the Arizona desert, the 129,000-acre Ironwood Forest National Monument is a true Sonoran Desert showcase. Keeping company with the ironwood trees are mesquite, palo verde, creosote, and saguaro – blanketing the monument floor beneath rugged mountain ranges named Silver Bell, Waterman and Sawtooth. The national monument also contains habitat for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl and desert bighorn sheep. Photo by Bob Wick. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 3/24/17.
From the Bureau of Land Management’s Tumblr post, 1/22/16. Photos by their employee, Bob Wicks.
Some of my favorite photo locations are in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, located in northern Arizona along the Utah border. The area contains colorful sculpted rock formations that are beyond description. Most famous is “The Wave” which has a very limited number of entry permits issued through a lottery to protect its unique and fragile features. However, South Coyote Buttes (permit required) and the White Pocket (no permit needed) offer equally spectacular and unique formations. The area offers year-round photo opportunities, although winter access to remote locations may be blocked by snow, and back roads become impassible when wet at any time of year. Summer visitors should bring plenty of water and plan outings to avoid the unrelenting mid-day sun.
Photo tip: The many slickrock basins hold water at certain times and provide for great reflections of the adjoining formations. To capture water reflections, photograph in early morning and late evening when glare is lower and the water is more likely to be calm. Optimally the sun should be shining on the subject that is being reflected. Interesting skies with textured clouds also make excellent reflection subjects.
The Vermilion Cliffs themselves form a dramatic rampart in the southern part of the monument and offer endless photo angles. Make sure to stop at the California condor release site, just two miles up House Rock Road from the main highway. The majestic condors are visible year-round at the site which is used to reintroduce them into the wild. A very long telephoto lens is needed to get good photos of the condors.
Photo tip: The “golden hour”, such as the time close to sunrise and sunset, almost always offers the best light for photography and this is especially true in the Vermilion Cliffs and other areas of the Colorado Plateau. Here the rock colors come alive with vibrant reds, oranges and golds with low sun angles, but become washed out during the mid-day. Photographing with sidelight (camera pointed 90 degrees from the sun) will ensure that you have more texture and three dimensional qualities to your images.
It’s one of the most beautiful geologic formations in the world. The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located near the Arizona–Utah border, on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. Photo by Phillip Noll. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 11/21/15.
Coyote Buttes in Arizona is a spectacular scenic beauty. Local and international hikers alike are drawn to Coyote Buttes’ colorful, swirling masses of stone — complex geologic formations that lie exposed like no place else on earth. The Coyote Buttes are part the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness — one of the Bureau of Land Management’s National Conservation Lands, which protect areas that are significant to America’s cultural history. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM. Posted on Instagram by the US Department of the Interior, 2/17/15.
A stunning view of the Wave in the Paria Canyon – Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness – in Airzona. Photo is uncropped and unenhanced. Photo: Adam Marland. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 1/3/14.
