Trail passes ancient village, petroglyphs

Day hikers can explore ancient cultures on the Puerco Pueblo Trail at Petrified Forest National Park.

The 0.3-mile trail heads to pueblo village ruins, petroglyphs, and an interpretive center featuring archeological finds at the site.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road, which passes several overlooks. Drive under the freeway. After crossing the Puerco River bridge, turn left/east into the Puerco Pueblo parking lot. The paved trail leaves from the lot’s southeast corner.

When the trail splits, go left/southeast.

Puerco Pueblo ruins
The trail in short order passes the Puerco Pueblo ruins, which date to 1250-1380 CE. At the time, the ruins were a fortified village shaped like a rectangle, with more than 100 rooms encircling a central courtyard. The walls were constructed using local sandstone blocks held together with mud mortar. The walls then were covered with plaster. The rooms served as both living spaces and storage areas. Interestingly, there were no windows or doors, and access to the rooms required climbing ladders. There also are several kivas, or subterranean rooms that have a hearth at the center.

Up to 200 people might have lived at the site at any one time. When summer rains filled the nearby Puerco Pueblo floodplain, the villagers could raise corn, beans and squash.

Archeologists have excavated only about a third of the site.

Numerous artifacts have been discovered in the vicinity of the village, such as petrified wood arrows, ceramic ladles and jars, stone axe heads, food remnants, and mano and metate sets utilized for grinding seeds and grains. The pottery fragments come from various Colorado Plateau tribes and cultures – including the Chacoim Cibola, Tusayan, and Hopi – showing that the village and the current national park were once a crossroads and meeting point. Some ceramics date to around 700 CE.

Humans have been in the area much longer than that though. Some of the more than a 1000 archeological sites in the park show people have at least walked through the area as long as 13,000 years ago and possibly even earlier.

By 1380 CE, the village had been deserted due to climate change. Rising temperatures led to decreased rainfall, causing the once lush grasslands to transform into a desert. In addition, the river that used to flow throughout the year had dried up for most of the year.

Petroglyphs
When the trail splits, go left/southeast. This heads to a set of petroglyphs that were created by carving into a layer of dark desert varnish, which is a mixture of clays, minerals, and oils that gradually build up on the surface of rocks. Some carvings reveal the lighter rock beneath it.

The meaning behind the carved stick figures, animals, and geometric shapes has largely been lost to history. However, modern indigenous tribes believe that one image, depicting two delta-V’s pointing at a staircase in a rectangle, is a symbol of migration. Another image, featuring a large circular face, is likely representative of kachinas, which are spirit beings in the Pueblo religion and cosmology.

As for the bird with a long curved bill, its significance remains unclear. It could potentially symbolize the artist's affiliation with the Crane Clan, be an illustration from a Hopi story about a giant bird that visits villages to eat bad children, or have an entirely different meaning altogether.

The summer solstice likely was indicated by the presence of a spiral. During this time, in late June, sunlight would extend down a cliff and illuminate the center of the spiral around 9 a.m. This knowledge was crucial for agricultural purposes and predicting rainfall patterns, thus playing a significant role in various ceremonies. To locate the solstice spiral, search for a dark rock featuring two prominent feet drawings on one side.

Interpretive center
Next return to the main trail and go left/west. You’ll see a couple of more petroglyphs along the way.

Take the trail to the small interpretive center. It displays artifacts and includes interpretive panels describing the park’s and broader region’s pre-colonial history.

From the interpretive center, you can go northeast back to the pueblo’s edge. Return to the main trail by heading north and then on to the parking lot.

As the entire hike is unshaded, be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and hat.

TOPO MAP

Click for larger, printable version

  

Trail passes petrified logs, agate house

Long Logs Trail

Hikers can see petrified trunks of nearly quarter-of-a-billion-year-old trees and a historic pueblo made of the stone.

The 2.38 miles round trip combines the Long Logs Trail-Agate House Trail into a single hike. Leashed dogs are allowed.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road past several overlooks. Drive under the freeway. Turn right/west into the parking lot for the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Center. Cross Petrified Forest Road and as approaching the gift shop, take the sidewalk in front of it left/east. Walk alongside the road across Jim Camp Wash. Once on the other side of it, the Long Logs Trail splits to the right/south into the desert.

Petrified logs
Initially, the trail appears to be going nowhere, for there's a dearth of petrified wood and certainly no Painted Desert badlands. Be patient, though – soon petrified logs appear off the side of the trail, looking like tree stumps in the desert brush.

Some 218 million years ago, flood waters drove fallen trees – some of them 200 feet high – downstream. The tree trunks piled up in a log jam where they later were covered by silt and petrified. All of these eons later, erosion has exposed the now stone trees.

At 0.4 miles, the access trail reaches a small loop that curls back on itself. Continue left/northeast. In a few yards is a spur to the right; stay on the main trail.

The large coniferous trees that making up the petrified logs were felled by age, wind, disease or insects. Nine different extinct trees have been fossilized in the park with Araucarioxylon arizonicum the most common and what you’ll find along this trail.

The logs now sit at the base of a badlands, their buttes purple and gray. It is some of the largest concentration of petrified logs in the park.

Near the end of the Long Logs Loop is a shade shelter. This marks a good place to rest.

Agate House
At 1.1 miles, you’ll reach the Agate House Trail again. Go left/southwest onto it.

The Agate House sits on a knoll on the horizon, so you’ll see it in the distance. The trail ends at the sight around 1.48 miles into the hike.

Agate House, a pueblo consisting of eight rooms, was lived in between 1050 and 1300 CE. The structure was built using medium to large pieces of petrified wood held together by mud mortar and chinked with smaller pieces of petrified wood. Similar to other Puebloan buildings, access to Agate House was through the roof by ladder. The size and complexity of the construction indicate that it may have served as a year-round residence for a single family or as a communal meeting place for the community.

Today, Agate House stands prominently on a small hill in Rainbow Forest, although the current structure is a partial reconstruction and may not be entirely accurate. The historical significance of Agate House led to its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Do not sit, stand, lean or climb on the structure to preserve its integrity for future generations.

After taking in the sight, head back on the Agate House Trail. Ignore the turn onto the Long Logs Loop. Instead, go left/northwest onto the Long Loops access trail at 1.98 miles.

Follow the access trail back to the parking lot.

There's no natural shade at all on the trail, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat. Be aware of stormy skies; lightning strikes are common here, particularly during the August monsoons.

TOPO MAP

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Explore historic Route 66 inn, badlands trail

Painted Desert Inn

Day hikers can enjoy a walk through a historical Route 66 inn and enter a badlands of red rock at Petrified Forest National Park.

The 0.85-mile round trip Kachina Point Trail sits in the park’s northern section. It appears on some maps as the Onyx Bridge Trail, which actually is a cross-country extension of this route. Only hike the trail September through May to avoid the summer’s oppressive and dangerous heat.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road to the Kachina Point overlook on the right; this is where the historic Painted Desert Inn is located. Park at the inn.

Painted Desert Inn
The trail starts on the inn’s east side. Originally built of petrified wood in 1924, the National Park Service purchased it in 1936. Over the next four years, the Civilian Conservation Corp remodeled it into the adobe structure that exists today.

The Fred Harvey Company, which operated a chain of restaurants and hotels at railroad stops in the West, ran it for Route 66 travelers from 1947 until 1963 when it closed. Since 2006, the inn has served as a museum and gift shop for the park.

At 0.15 miles, the walkway reaches Kachina Point, which offers a grand vista of the badlands. The red rock on the Painted Desert was set down around 212-215 million years ago when rivers deposited sediment in this part of the world. You’re at 5863 feet elevation.

You stand a good chance of seeing wildlife along the trail. Road runners can be spotted at the inn. Usually the pawprints of rabbits and chipmunks, hoofprints of deer, and the caws of ravens typically are found on the trail. If lucky, you’ll see pronghorn antelope grazing in the grasslands punctuating the badlands.

Head back to the building's west side and follow it until at 0.25 miles when you can pick up a dirt trail heading north to the rim. Go right/north onto it.

Badlands
Once at the edge, the trail switchbacks down the mesa side into the badlands.

Along the way, you’ll pass white tuft in the badlands. These is the ash from ancient volcanoes that fell here.

The trail soon enters a wash between two red mesas. After a rain or following a snowmelt, the trail can be muddy and leave shallow pools.

When the trail reaches a split in the wash at 0.55 miles, turn back.

The point and the trail named are named for Hopi Kachinas, which are spirits of deities, natural elements, animals, or deceased ancestors.

There’s no shade at all on the trail, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat.

TOPO MAP

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Hike offers chance to see Arizona wildlife

Black-tailed jackrabbits are a common sight at Petrified Forest
National Park.

Day hikers can look for desert fauna amid badlands and petrified logs on the Old Jasper Forest Road at Petrified Forest National Park.

The 3-mile round trip follows

the remains of an old park road that was popular when built in the 1930s. Early morning and dusk are the best times to spot wildlife and offer the added bonus of more dramatic lighting on the buttes and crystals. Limit hikes to September through May, as the summer heat can

be unbearable and even dangerous.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road, heading past several overlooks. Drive under the freeway. Turn right/west onto the road for the Jasper Forest Overlook.

The trail leads from the parking lot’s northeast corner along the rim overlooking the Jasper Forest.

First Forest
A badlands area with plenty of petrified wood, Jasper Forest originally was called the “First Forest” because it was the first spot where railroad travelers encountered petrified logs during the early 1900s. Famous naturalist John Muir was among those travelers, visiting the Jasper Forest in 1905.

At 0.5 miles when the trail runs close to Petrified Forest Road, it turns northwest into a wash. You can follow this route to descend into the Jasper Forest. If rain has recently fallen or is forecast, you’ll want to turn around here otherwise your boots will be mired in mud should you continue.

If the typical dry desert day, however, keep going.

There are a number of washes that branch off the main one. Unless you’re good at outdoors navigation and have a topo map as well as a compass, stay in the main wash rather than explore the side tributaries. The accompanying topo map, though, shows one excellent side trip you can make to the north of the main wash.

Jackrabbits and rare lizards
A variety of mammals can be found in the national park, including pronghorns, bobcats, fox, and prairie dogs. Most of those creatures hang out in the park’s shortgrass prairies.

One mammal you’re likely to see on the hike is the black-tailed jackrabbit. Larger in size than a typical rabbit, they sport black-tipped ears and tail. The blood vessels in the jackrabbit’s long ears act like a heat exchanger so it can stay cool in the desert. Jackrabbits prefer open areas, and when a predator approaches can dash away at 35 mph; when running, they often take zigzag routes and long leaps to keep the predator at bay.

Wherever there are jackrabbits, there probably are coyotes. Canis latrans eat a variety of small mammals and can reach speeds of up to 40 mph when chasing jackrabbits. Even if you never see a coyote on the hike, you might spy their pawprints in the sand and at dusk often will hear their yelps in the distance.

Sixteen kinds of reptiles – including gopher snakes, bullsnakes, and western rattlesnakes – reside in the park. You’re unlikely to see any snakes during the day on this trail, though. There will be plenty of harmless lizards, though.

One lizard to keep an eye out out for is the plateau striped whiptail, a species that consists entirely of females. It prefer grasslands and developed areas, so you’re more likely to see it when you start the hike then once you get into the wash. The lizard’s name tells all you need to know to identify it – it’s striped, and its long tail is whip-like.

Another one to watch for is the side-blotched lizard. They’re rarely seen but live in rocky area; you’re best bet to spotting them is in the wash. Usually they top out at about six inches in length with the male larger than the female and boasting a brightly colored throat.

Golden eagles and ravens
The reptiles’ distant relative – birds – are far more abundant in the park. A full 216 species of birds have been identified in Petrified Forest, though a number of them are only stopping over for a few months (or even days), during the spring and fall migrations.

One bird you’ll see year around is the common raven. Entirely black, they average about 25 inches in length but weigh a mere 2.6 pounds. They’re not picky eaters. Berries, carrion, cereal grains, fruit, insects, nesting birds, small animals, and food waste all make up a part of their diet. Because of the latter, they’re easy to spot near the trail’s parking lot and just about any other place people go.

The largest bird in the park is the golden eagle. Its wingspan can stretch up to almost 7 feet. Agile and fast, golden eagles hunt a variety of small mammals, including rabbits and ground squirrels, ensnaring them with sharp talons. Watch the high cliffs for possible nesting sites and keep an eye on the sky to see them soaring overhead, as they look for their next meal.

A good place to turnaround on the hike is at 1.5 miles when you meet an old jeep trail that runs northeast-southwest in a straight line.

Do not approach, feed, or harass any wildlife you might see. There’s no shade at all on the trail, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat. Leashed dogs are allowed.

TOPO MAP

At the first split, go left/west. The route north is for those who want to go
into the backcountry and have advanced navigation skills. Click for larger version.

Trail rambles through dinosaur woodlands

Day hikers can see thousands of petrified logs – the remnant of an ancient dinosaur-era woodlands – on the Crystal Forest Trail in Petrified Forest National Park.

The 0.9-mile lollipop trail sits in the park’s southern section. Morning or late afternoon mark a good time to hike the trail, as the sunlight’s angle will bring out the colors in the petrified logs.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road, looking past several overlooks. Drive under the freeway. Turn left/east into the parking lot for the Crystal Forest.

The fairly flat, paved trail heads east from the lot into the desert. Petrified logs are scattered all over.

Some 218 million years ago during the Triassic, this area sat at the edge of a river channel. As the trees – some of the 200-feet high – fell into the river or floodplain, silt slowly buried them. The silica-rich groundwater percolated into the logs, replacing and replicating the wood with quartz.

In about 200 feet, the trail splits. Go right/east; the other way leads to a shaded shelter. In short order, the trail divides again; go right/southeast there.

The color of the logs’ quartz depends on the mineral impurities in the water. Red, yellow, orange and purple quartz indicate iron oxides in the water, black and gray are magnesium oxides, and white is pure quartz.

As the heavy quartz logs settled, they cracked, as if a lumberjack took an ax to them. Eons later, erosion uncovered the petrified logs.

The trail gradually ascends for a fairly good vista of the badlands with petrified logs and the rolling grasslands below.

Many of the small petrified wood chips along the trail came from efforts to harvest purple amethyst from the the logs during the 1800s. Those seeking the gems to sell dynamited the logs in the days before the area was protected.

About halfway through the hike is a rest and reflection platform. This is the trail’s high elevation.

The buttes of the Blue Mesa appear on the northeast horizon.

When the trail reaches the shaded shelter, at about 0.72 miles in, continue straight-right/southwest. The next trail junction, in a few yards. brings you to the loop’s beginning. Go right/west back to the parking lot.

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

TOPO MAP

Click for larger, printable map

Get your hike on Route 66 at Petrified NP

Old telephone poles mark where Route 66 used to run in Petrified Forest
National Park.

Day hikers can walk a segment of the abandoned historic 

Route 66 roadbed at Petrified Forest National Park.

A good segment of the roadbed to follow runs 2.2 miles round trip, though there’s plenty more of Route 66 to

walk. This is not an official trail and requires

a little bushwhacking.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, exit north onto Park Road and enter the park. After passing through the entrance station, continue along the road (which becomes Petrified Forest Road along the way) to the Route 66 pullout on the right/west. Park at the pullout.

At the pullout is a interpretive sign and a Studebaker. Old telephone poles mark the former course of Route 66, once known as the “Main Street of America,” as it ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Much of the road is overgrown and tore up, but you should be able to make out where it once went, especially if you check out an aerial map of the site.

To walk the old roadbed, cross Petrified Forest Road and follow the beat up desert track that heads northeast, angling away from Interstate 40. This is a little quieter than taking the route west from the pullout, which heads toward the freeway.

Take the highway that’s the best
U.S. Route 66 was constructed in 1926. Running through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, it was a major route for Dust Bowl migrants leaving the Great Plains.

Its real fame came following World War II, especially when Nat King Cole released his famous tune that urged listeners to “Get your kicks on Route 66.”

Many did get their kicks. With America only beginning to homogenize, the 2200-mile drive from Chicago to Los Angeles was an adventure through many different cultures and natural wonders. Each restaurant, filling station, and tourist trap was unique. And best of all? There was no speed limit.

In what is now Petrified Forest National Park, Route 66 travelers could see a view of the Painted Desert from an overlook, and even enjoy a meal or stay overnight at the adobe pink Painted Desert Inn.

The interstate highway system made the route obsolete by the early 1960s, however. Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
Petrified Forest is the only national park with a section of the historic route. In 2006, the pullout section was developed at point where Route 66 crossed what is now Petrified Forest Road.

As the cross-country route you’ll hike is overgrown, don’t wear sandals or shorts when traipsing past the desert brush and cacti. There is enough open space to avoid rubbing up against the plants, but you’ll have to weave your way through them. To avoid losing your way, just follow the telephone poles.

A good turnaround point is a sandy jeep trail about 1.1 miles in.

There’s no shade at all, so be sure to don sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat.

AERIAL MAP

Route 66 Trail. Click for larger version.

Video of Petrified Forest N.P. logs

Day hikers can “travel” 225 million years back in time on the Giant Logs Trail at Petrified Forest National Park.

The national park is a literal forest of fallen trees, cycads and ginkgoes that grew about 225 million years ago when a humid, sub-tropical climate dominated this part of the world. At the time, the current desert landscape was a floodplain.

After heavy rainfalls and swollen rivers swept trees into the plain, clay, mud and other sediment covered the logs, preserving them as stone for them for eons. Erosion during the last several thousand years have unearthed them. Fossils of phytosaurs and early dinosaurs from the Triassic also have been found here.

For a great view of petrified trees, take the 0.4-mile Giant Logs Trail, on which can be seen the Old Faithful Log with its 10-foot wide base. Here’s a video of petrified trees taken along the trail:

Also see:
• Best trails for seeing Petrified Forest’s wonders

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Best trails to see Petrified Forest’s wonders

Petrified trees on Giant Logs Trail.
Photo courtesy of Petrified Forest NPS.

Among the best ways to see Petrified Forest National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Three short trails and one brief walk will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – petrified trees, painted deserts, ancient pueblos, and volcanic craters.

Petrified trees
The national park is a literal forest of fallen trees, cycads and ginkgoes that grew about 225 million years ago when a humid, sub-tropical climate dominated this part of the world; fossils of phytosaurs and early dinosaurs also have been unearthed here. For a great view of petrified trees, take the 0.4-mile Giant Logs Trail, on which can be seen the Old Faithful Log with its 10-foot wide base.

Painted Desert
Colorful badlands, created by eons of erosion, dominate large swaths of the national park. The Painted Desert Rim Trail offers fantastic views of one such landscape covered in the hues of a red sunset. The trail is 1-mile round trip.

Ancient pueblos
The ruins of the 100-room Puerco Pueblo, lived in more than 800 years ago, overlooks the Puerco River. The 0.3-mile Puerco Pueblo Loop takes visitors through the remains; petroglyphs also can be viewed at the trail’s south end.

Volcanic craters
Erosion also has exposed volcanic landforms called maars – flat, circular craters in which steam and gases exploded straight out of the ground. The Pintado Point lookout in the park’s northern section offers a view of one maar vent. This is not much of a hike but a pulloff along the park road.

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

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.