Is Petrified Forest Worth Visiting? Maybe… and here’s how!
If you’re considering a cross-country road trip or flight just to visit Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, maybe don’t do that. But if Petrified Forest is part of a longer road trip, it’s actually a really cool destination to spend half to a full day!
The truth is, Petrified Forest National Park is spectacular, but not in the way national parks usually are. You won’t find enormous cliffs, gigantic canyons or massive features. But the park has its own aura of a time long ago forgotten, with formations you can tell are ancient.
And it’s size is perfect for a park that makes you wonder if its worth visiting. Since its mostly drivable and all its hikes are short, the entire park is very accessible. You can see all the cool things without too much commitment.
So, is Petrified Forest worth visiting? Maybe… but here’s how to best take advantage of your time there!
What is Petrified Forest National Park?
Petrified Forest National Park is a national park located where an ancient forest once grew. The forest is no longer there. All but some of the wood can be found underground or on the surface. But it’s no longer wood… it turned to rock!
And it’s not just any gray rock. It turned into crystals of all different colors. Seriously, it’s worth visiting Petrified Forest National Park just to gaze at all the intricacies of one petrified log. And you’ll see thousands!
Hiking in Petrified Forest National Park
The best way to tour Petrified Forest is to start at the Painted Desert Visitor Center and then do the scenic drive all the way to the end. There are overlooks and short hikes all along the scenic drive. Then, at the end of the road, you exit the park and go your way.
When Lala and I visited, we tried stopping at most of the outlooks and all of the hikes. Some of the hikes were better than others, and here are the ones we thought were best. These are all in the order you’ll see them on the scenic drive.
1. Blue Mesa Trail
This hike is the best hike in Petrified Forest National Park because it feels like an immersive experience. Up until this point, you’ve just been parking and walking to overlooks, but here you get to walk down from the mesa into a mars-like landscape.
The clay hills around you rise steeply from the ground like gigantic pimples and you can see big rock logs spilled between them. As you walk you’ll see more and more petrified wood, and you’ll be able to look at it up close for the first time.
The hike is a 1-mile loop with a little bit of a steep section at the beginning and end.
2. Crystal Forest
This hike was the first where we got to see huge logs up close, and we were amazed. This is where I realized saying the wood turned to rock is too much of an understatement.
Lala and I kept kneeling down to look at the rock from closer up because the colors and textures are insane! Words aren’t enough, so here’s a picture.
And you’ll see hundreds of these on the Crystal Forest trail! A proper name, I have to say. This was the second-best hike in Petrified Forest National Park, in my opinion. It’s just three quarters (0.75) of a mile long.
3. Giant Logs
This hike is a very short 0.4 mile hike right behind the Rainbow Forest Museum at the end of the scenic drive. It’s quick and beautiful, and you get to see… you guessed it, some giant petrified logs.
The sheer size of some of these logs is hard to grasp… they’re some huge pieces of rock! The biggest is called “Old Faithful” and it’s 10 feet wide at its base.
4. Long Logs
This is a little longer of a hike (a 1.6-mile loop) that takes you to the highest concentration of petrified wood in the entire national park!
It’s a gorgeous hike, and the perfect way to end your visit to Petrified Forest National Park.
Hiking in Petrified Forest National Park makes it worth visiting, and these four hikes – Blue Mesa, Crystal Forest, Giant Logs and Long Logs, are the best hikes.
When it comes to the outlooks, my favorites were all the outlooks in the northern part of the park, closest to the Visitor Center. There are more views of the desert than petrified wood to see in the north. Then, after crossing the interstate, in the southern part of the park, you get more hikes and more petrified wood.
How to Get to Petrified Forest
Petrified Forest National Park is in the middle of nowhere in northeastern Arizona. The best airports to fly into are Flagstaff, 1 hour and 45 minutes (115 miles) away, Albuquerque, 3 hours (200 miles) away, or Phoenix, 3 and a half hours (212 miles) away.
The best way to get there is to rent a car at one of these airports and make Petrified Forest National Park a part of a bigger road trip!
Where to Go After Petrified Forest National Park
Since Petrified Forest National Park is best visited as part of a longer road trip, here are some road trip ideas for when you visit!
- The Grand Circle road trip: This is where Lala and I went after exploring Petrified Forest. We drove to the Grand Canyon, then visited 5 more national parks and a bunch of incredible natural formations of the Southwest.
- White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns: You could drive southeast towards White Sands National Park and then continue the road trip to El Paso (the Franklin Mountains and Hueco Tanks State Park), Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
- Arizona: Make it a part of an Arizona road trip, visiting destinations like the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Page, and Sedona, Flagstaff, Pheonix… even Saguaro National Park in Tucson!
How to Make Petrified Forest Worth Visiting
In conclusion, this is how you make it worth it to visit Petrified Forest National Park:
- Go to the Visitor Center and watch the park film
- Visit all the outlooks
- Make sure you hike in Petrified Forest National Park
- Make your visit a part of a longer road trip!
Free Camping near Petrified Forest National Park
When Lala and I visited Petrified Forest National Park, we car camped for free on a dirt road right off the highway about 15 minutes from the park.
It was very muddy because it was actively snowing while we were there, but we had no trouble getting out with our Subaru Forester. A van that was also there had to drive out to the bit of paved road in the middle of the night.
The coordinates for this site to car camp for free near Petrified Forest National Park are: 35.101970, -109.640000.
This is the best we found that was closest to the park, but there were others!
If you’re planning any sort of trip in the Southwest, I actually made a free map with 70+ free car camping spots I found and vetted during my 2 years on the road. It’s my go-to resource whenever I’m planning where to sleep for the night.
👉 Grab the map for free below – I’ll email it to you right away!
If you’d rather stay at a hotel, there’s a town on Route 66 about 24 minutes from the Visitor Center.
Check out all your hotel options for staying close to Petrified Forest National Park. You’ll find some interesting hotels and motels, as you’d expect from a town on Route 66.
So, is Petrified Forest worth visiting?
Safe to say, Petrified Forest National Park is not among the best American national parks.
However, it’s a unique part of our world and is worth visiting because of how special of a place it is. BUT, make sure you visit Petrified Forest as part of a road trip with other destinations to best take advantage of your time.
If you have any questions at all, please comment below and I’ll be sure to answer!
