The Petrified Forest National Park is east of Holbrook, Arizona. The 28-mile tour takes from the fallen petrified logs on the south to the painted desert on the north. The above photos are a representation of the many photos we took during our driving tour. This is one of the most colorful National Parks we have visited. While the petrified trees are a part of this park, the vast majority of the tour is through colorful hillsides, mounds and canyons filled with the vibrant colors that our photographs cannot do justice to this beauty. In the short 28-mile tour, we observed terrain that reminded us of the Badlands in South Dakota, Dead Horse State Park in Utah and the pueblos of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

Most people ask how the logs became petrified, so let me quote from the Park brochure. Around 225 million years ago, during the Triassic Era, the wood was covered up by either volcanic ash volcanic mudflows, sediments in lakes or materials washed up by the violent floods. This prevented oxygen from readching the wood and prevented decay. Silica dissolved in ground water got into the individual cells and chemically affected them taking on a variety of forms; agate, jasper, chalcedony or opal. The colors are caused by other minerals that are mixed with the silica. Iron oxide stains the wood orange, rust, red or yellow. Maganese oxide produces blues, blacks or purple.

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