Petrified Forest National Park

This park was more than I expected and really blew my mind. The petrified trees died approximately 216 million years ago and were buried under layers of silt, sand, and volcanic ash, which protected them from decay. Mineral layered ground water percolated through the layers, carrying silica from the volcanic ash and the absorbent dead wood became saturated with these minerals and slowly bonded with the cells of the tree replicating the organic material in perfect detail. This was when the land in Arizona was at the equator and part of the landmass Pangea! Dinosaurs were just getting started and no flowering plants would exist for close to another 80 million years. Really puts in perspective how short a time people have been on the planet since we have only been here 300,000 years!
The park also has great examples of badlands. We didn’t have time to see the petroglyphs or examples of native peoples that lived in the area so we will need to come back at some point.Read more