Petrified Forest National Park: What We Did, What Surprised Us & How Much Time You Really Need

I’ll admit it: Petrified Forest National Park wasn’t one of the national parks I was most excited about.

We were making our way from California to South Padre Island, Texas—a roughly 10-day haul across the Southwest in our RV—and Petrified Forest made sense as a stop along the way. I expected some petrified wood, a few overlooks, another Junior Ranger badge for the kids, and then we’d keep moving.

I was wrong.

Petrified Forest ended up being much more beautiful and interesting than I expected. Between the enormous petrified trees, sparkling crystals, colorful hills of Blue Mesa, Route 66 history and views across the Painted Desert, there was a surprising amount packed into a very drivable national park.

And that’s one of the things I liked most about it: you don’t need several days—or even necessarily a full day—to have a really good experience here.

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Our Visit to Petrified Forest

We were staying at Sun Valley RV Resort outside Holbrook, Arizona, for the night.

We arrived at the campground around 11:30 AM with plans to eat lunch, get settled and head straight to Petrified Forest.

Naturally, the RV had other plans.

We immediately started having electrical issues. Trying to run all three A/C units kept tripping the breaker, which isn’t exactly what you want to deal with during an August trip through Arizona. We spent some time troubleshooting before eventually deciding that the park wasn’t going to wait for us. We reduced our electrical load, left the problem for later and headed out.

We reached Petrified Forest around 1:30 PM.

Because we were staying near Holbrook, we entered through the south entrance and worked our way north. This was perfect for our route because we could drive the roughly 28-mile park road and exit directly onto I-40 rather than backtracking.

If you’re coming from Holbrook and ultimately need to return toward I-40, I’d absolutely consider doing it this way.

Rainbow Forest Museum

Our first stop was Rainbow Forest Museum near the south entrance.

This wasn’t a visitor center I’d rush through. It has paleontological exhibits, including prehistoric animal displays, and gave the kids some context for what we were about to see.

We grabbed their Junior Ranger books, stamped our National Park Passport and, of course, picked up the necessary magnets and stickers.

Then we headed behind the museum for our first trail.

Giant Logs Trail

Giant Logs is a short 0.4-mile loop directly behind Rainbow Forest Museum and features some of the largest petrified logs in the park.

The coolest part for us was seeing one of these massive trees stretched across the landscape. At first glance, it almost looks like someone came through with a giant saw and sliced it into sections.

They didn’t.

As the Colorado Plateau gradually uplifted, the quartz-filled petrified trees were put under enormous stress. Quartz is hard but brittle, so the logs naturally fractured. That’s why some of the breaks look strangely clean and evenly spaced.

That little piece of geology made seeing the entire tree much more interesting.

If you’re short on time, though, I don’t think you need to complete Giant Logs solely to see petrified wood. You’ll find plenty more at Crystal Forest.

Crystal Forest Trail

Crystal Forest is an easy 0.75-mile loop and was one of my favorite places for getting close to the petrified wood.

The trail loops through an area filled with petrified logs, many containing beautiful quartz crystals.

And this was where I realized how little I actually knew about petrified wood.

More than 200 million years ago, ancient logs were buried before they could completely decay. Silica-rich water moved through the buried wood, and over time minerals crystallized within and replaced its organic structure. Much of what looks like wood today is actually quartz.

The different minerals and impurities helped create all those incredible colors we were seeing.

It was beautiful, but it was also fascinating.

This turned into one of those homeschool days that didn’t really feel like school. We were learning geology, earth science and natural history simply because the kids wanted to understand what they were seeing.

Blue Mesa

Blue Mesa was probably my favorite landscape in the park.

The blue, purple and gray badlands look completely different from the areas filled with petrified logs we’d just explored.

The 1-mile loop descends fairly steeply from the mesa, which means what goes down eventually has to come back up.

Fortunately, it’s short.

Our family handled it without much trouble, and I’m glad we did it. Walking down among the hills gives you a completely different perspective than seeing them from above.

But here’s something important if you’re short on time or don’t want the climb:

You don’t have to hike Blue Mesa to appreciate it.

The Blue Mesa scenic road has beautiful overlooks, so even someone who doesn’t hike at all can experience one of my favorite parts of the park.

Can You See Petrified Forest Without Hiking?

Absolutely.

This may be one of my biggest recommendations for Petrified Forest.

We like hiking, and we had the time, so we completed the trails because we wanted the full experience.

You don’t have to.

Petrified Forest is incredibly well suited to a road trip. You can drive through the park, stop at overlooks and walk only short portions of trails while still seeing much of what makes it special.

If you’re really short on time, you could walk just far enough onto Giant Logs or Crystal Forest to see the petrified wood, drive the Blue Mesa loop and stop at the overlooks, and continue north through the Painted Desert.

You wouldn’t experience everything we did, but you’d still get a surprisingly good introduction to the park.

So if you’re driving through the area and debating whether it’s worth stopping because you only have a couple of hours, I’d stop.

Route 66

As we continued north, we stopped at the historic Route 66 alignment.

I didn’t realize before our visit that Petrified Forest is the only National Park System site containing a section of Historic Route 66.

The old road once crossed this landscape, and today you can still see the line of weathered telephone poles marking its former path, along with an old Studebaker displayed near the alignment.

It’s a quick stop and an easy addition while driving through the park.

Painted Desert Inn

Toward the northern end of our visit, we stopped at Painted Desert Inn.

I really enjoyed this stop.

The historic inn once served travelers along Route 66, and today you can walk through the building and see pieces of its history, including what its fountain and other gathering spaces once looked like.

During our visit, the main Painted Desert Visitor Center was closed for construction, so Painted Desert Inn was also serving as the north visitor center.

The girls finished their Junior Ranger books here and turned them in for their badges.

The Petrified Forest Junior Ranger books were relatively easy compared with some we’ve completed. They could work on quite a bit while we drove between stops, which is helpful when you’re seeing the park in only a few hours.

We finished our visit around 4:30 PM.

That meant we’d spent only about three hours inside the park.

And honestly? We felt like we’d seen a lot.

How Much Time Do You Need at Petrified Forest?

This is probably my biggest takeaway from our visit.

You don’t necessarily need a full day.

If Petrified Forest is one of the main reasons for your trip, I’d give yourself most of a day. That would let you explore slowly, add more trails and historical stops, and spend more time in the museums.

But if you’re passing through on a road trip, don’t skip it just because you only have a few hours.

In roughly three hours, we visited Rainbow Forest Museum, walked Giant Logs and Crystal Forest, hiked Blue Mesa, drove the scenic road, stopped at Route 66, visited Painted Desert Inn and completed the Junior Ranger program.

We didn’t see everything—and weren’t trying to.

But we left feeling like we’d gotten a really good sense of the park.

I’d rather have two or three hours at Petrified Forest than drive right past it because I thought I needed an entire day.

Visiting Petrified Forest in Summer

Now for the part I wouldn’t necessarily recommend:

August.

It was hot.

Really hot.

We wore rash guards for sun protection and brought a lot of water—and still drank all of it.

The direct sun was intense. When clouds eventually rolled in, the difference was immediate. Combined with the breeze, the cloud coverage made parts of our afternoon considerably more comfortable.

One major advantage was the crowd level.

There were hardly any people around.

We’ve learned that national parks can feel completely different when we visit on weekdays or when most kids are back in school. Having trails and overlooks largely to ourselves made this visit considerably more enjoyable.

Still, if I had complete flexibility, I’d choose milder weather.

And regardless of when you visit, bring plenty of water.

There are restrooms and some food and drink services in the developed areas of the park, but don’t expect concessions at every trailhead and overlook. Once you’re out exploring the scenic road, it’s much easier to already have everything your family needs.

Can You Bring Your Dog?

Here’s something Petrified Forest does unusually well:

Dogs are allowed on the park’s trails.

Petrified Forest is considerably more dog-friendly than many national parks. Leashed pets are allowed on park trails and in designated wilderness areas, although they can’t go inside park buildings.

There’s even a BARK Ranger program.

We would have loved to bring Willie.

Ultimately, we left him at the RV because of the August heat.

I didn’t want to spend the afternoon worrying about whether the pavement was too hot for his paws, and once we were actually walking around in the direct sun, I was glad we’d made that decision.

Being allowed to bring your dog doesn’t necessarily mean the conditions that day are safe or comfortable for your dog.

During cooler weather, though, I would have loved having Willie along.

A Few Things to Know Before You Go

Petrified Forest doesn’t currently require timed-entry reservations, but unlike some national parks, the park isn’t open 24 hours. Hours can change seasonally or because of construction, so I’d check the National Park Service website before your visit rather than assuming you can arrive whenever you want.

There are two entrances, which makes the park especially convenient as part of a road trip. The north entrance connects directly with I-40, while the south entrance connects toward Holbrook via Highway 180.

And this should probably go without saying, but don’t take petrified wood from the park.

Leave it where you find it.

Besides being illegal, removing pieces little by little takes away the exact thing everyone is coming here to experience.

Final Verdict

Petrified Forest National Park surprised me in the best way. I expected the petrified wood to be interesting, but I didn’t expect the entire park to be so scenic. Between the crystals, massive petrified trees, colorful badlands and Painted Desert, there was much more here than I anticipated.

I don’t think you need to plan an entire trip around Petrified Forest alone, and I don’t necessarily feel like we need to return anytime soon. We left feeling like we’d gotten a really complete experience in just a few hours.

But I would absolutely recommend stopping if you’re traveling through this part of Arizona—and I’d even make a reasonable detour for it.

If you only have an hour or two, don’t skip it. Drive through, stop at Blue Mesa, walk far enough onto Giant Logs or Crystal Forest to see the petrified wood, and enjoy the overlooks. If you have half a day, you can do what we did and get a surprisingly full experience.

I’d choose cooler weather if we visited again, but the trade-off for the August heat was having an incredibly quiet park with very few people around.

Petrified Forest probably won’t go down as one of our favorite national parks we’ve ever visited, but it was absolutely worth the stop—and considerably better than I expected it to be.

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Petrified Forest was part of our 10-day road trip from California to South Texas:

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