Arizona trail leads to ancient pueblo ruins

An ancient Arizona village once was home to 750-1000 people.

Day hikers can explore the ruins of an ancient village on the Homolovi Pueblo Trail in northern Arizona.

The 0.35-mile trail loops around the 700-year-old site at Homolovi State Park just outside of Winslow. Some maps identify the route as the Homolovi I Trail. A hike there is best done September through May, as the summer heat can be oppressive and even dangerous.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40 in Winslow, exit north onto Ariz. Hwy. 87. Turn left/northwest onto Homolovi State Park Entrance Road. Take the next left/southwest to the state park campground. Pass the campground and park in the lot at the road’s end.

The trail heads northwest from the parking lot.

Farming village
An oxbow lake is to the left/west. It formed when a meander in the Little Colorado River was cut off from the main stream. This typically occurs when the main stream breaks through the neck of the meander and forms a straighter course.

Around 1330 CE, people from the Hopi Mesas about 60 miles to the north came to this bend on the river, which was a lush floodplain with rich soil.

At 0.1 miles, the trail splits; go right. The ruins of their village – today called Homol’ovi I or Homolovi Pueblo – quickly comes into view.

The pueblo contained 1200 rooms, with parts of it three-stories high, and was divided into three plazas. Archeologists estimate that as many as 750-1000 people could have lived there at any given time.

Pueblo residents farmed the floodplain, growing beans, corn, cotton and squash while gathering wild foods like fruit from cactus and yucca, Indian rice grass, pigweed and pinon nuts. The cotton they harvested was exchanged with villages to the north and west.

Little Colorado River
Once past the pueblo ruins, the Little Colorado River comes into view as the loop reaches its north side.

During the late 1300s, the pueblo succumbed to a flooding Little Colorado River. Villagers abandoned the site, and archeological evidence suggests they returned to their ancestral villages on the Hopi Mesas.

The loop reaches the stem at 0.25 miles. Go right/southeast and return to the parking lot.

In addition to the pueblo ruins, thanks to the river’s nearby location, you stand a good chance of spotting wildlife. Birds are your best bet, with the burrowing owls, horned lark, kestrel, raven, red-tailed hawk, roadrunner, and golden eagle all present in the park. Other animals that call the riverside home include coyotes, deer, porcupines, rabbits and squirrels.

There’s no shade on the trail, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat. Leashed dogs are allowed.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.

TOPO MAP

Click for printable version.

Hike through petrified Triassic-era forest

Great Logs Trail, courtesy Petrified Forest NPS.

Topo map, Giant Logs Trail.

Families can hike the remains of a woodlands dating from the dinosaurs’ earliest days on the Giant Logs Trail in Petrified Forest National Park.

The fairly easy walk consists of two loops that combine for a 0.6-mile round trip. Because of the hot Arizona weather, spring and autumn mark the best time to hike the trail.

To reach the trail, from Interstate 40, take Exit 311. After passing the entrance station, drive the park road, which loops back under the freeway and heads to Petrified Forest’s southern section. After passing the Crystal Forest area, look for the Giant Logs and Rainbow Forest Museum turnoff on your right/west, about 26 miles from the entrance station. Park at the museum.

The trail begins at the museum’s back entrance, where interpretive brochures are available. If the museum is closed, simply walk to the building’s north side to pick up the pathway.

Along the trail’s inner and outer loops are 10 major sights. Without a doubt, the most impressive of them is Old Faithful, a fossilized tree stump whose base is nearly 10 feet across and would extend 35 feet high if standing upright.

Some 225 million years ago during the late Triassic, the petrified logs along the trail were part of a large forest that covered this part of the world. Nine different tree species – all of which are extinct – as well as ferns and more than 200 other plant species, were fossilized when floods washed them into riverways. Sediment and volcanic ash covered the fallen plants before they could decompose.

Water with dissolved minerals entered the plants’ cells, literally turning it to stone and preserving the tree’s exact shape. The different colors in the petrified wood come from the type of mineral entering the cell. Blue and purple indicate manganese; yellow, orange and red is iron; green is copper; black is carbon; and tan and gray suggest the water had very low mineral content.

A petrified fossil is extremely heavy and hard. It averages 150-180 pounds per cubic foot and can only be cut with a diamond-tipped saw.

The Rainbow Museum contains several exhibits about petrified wood and paleontology in the park.

Pets are allowed on the trail but must be leashed at all times. Though a paved trail, some sections would be difficult for a wheelchair to navigate; in addition, the trail sees an 82 feet change in elevation.

While the ground about the trail appears to be brimming with petrified wood fossils, removal of even the smallest chunk is illegal. To that end, park officials often search vehicles exiting the park for petrified wood. If you’d like a souvenir piece of petrified wood (and who wouldn’t?), you can purchase it legally from roadside stores outside the park. That petrified wood is collected on private land surrounding the national park.

Learn about other great America national park sights in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Park guidebook.