Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona isn’t just a place where ancient trees turned to stone. It’s a fascinating mix of natural wonders, human history, and quirky surprises.
From historic highways to mysterious petroglyphs, here are 12 fun facts about Petrified Forest National Park that will make you want to plan your visit.
Table of Contents
Basic Facts About Petrified Forest National Park
Location: Arizona
Size: 146,900 acres
Number of Visitors each Year: about 645,000 visitors each year
Annual Rainfall: Approximately 10 inches. The wettest months are July and August.
Highest Elevation: 6,262 feet
Lowest Elevation: 5,307 feet
Date it Became a National Park: It became a National Monument on December 8, 1906 and a National Park on December 9, 1962.
12 Fun Facts About Petrified Forest National Park
1. Historic Route 66 Runs Right Through It
Did you know Petrified Forest National Park is the only U.S. national park that contains a segment of Historic Route 66?
Once called “The Mother Road,” Route 66 stretched 2,200 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles and became an icon of American road trips. Even though it was decommissioned in 1985, you can still see a preserved portion, complete with a 1932 Studebaker sitting as a roadside relic.
2. It’s Home to the Stunning Painted Desert
Despite its name, the park is more than just petrified wood. The national park also features the Painted Desert. This is a surreal – and incredibly beautiful – landscape of rolling badlands in brilliant shades of red, orange, pink, and purple.
The colors change throughout the day as sunlight hits the layered sedimentary rocks and clay, making every view feel like a living painting.
There are multiple viewpoints along the rim overlooking the painted desert below. You can also walk the Rim Trail between one of the viewpoints and the historic Painted Desert Inn.
If you like to hike and are up for an adventure, ask a ranger for a guide to one of the Off the Beaten Path hikes that go down into and through the Painted Desert.
3. It’s One of the World’s Largest Petrified Forests
The park protects one of the largest collections of petrified wood on Earth. These fossilized logs, some more than 200 million years old, sparkle like giant crystals thanks to minerals like quartz, iron, and manganese. Some even contain jewel-like crystals of amethyst and citrine formed in cracks over millions of years.
They were originally gigantic trees along a river system that fell into the water and were buried under sediment before they decayed. Over time, minerals like silica seeped into the wood and replaced the organic material.
Some of them look exactly like they looked when they were alive. Others sparkle with bright mineral colors.
4. The Park was Created to Stop Souvenir Hunters
Petrified Forest National Park was established in 1906 to stop rampant theft.
In the late 1800s, visitors were taking chunks of fossilized wood as keepsakes, threatening to deplete this natural treasure. President Theodore Roosevelt designated the area as a national monument, and it became a national park in 1962 to ensure its protection.
5. Beware the Petrified Forest Curse!
Legend has it that anyone who takes petrified wood from the park will be cursed with bad luck.
Hundreds of visitors over the years have mailed back stolen pieces along with apology letters describing accidents, illnesses, and financial troubles. These returned souvenirs are now piled up in what rangers call the “conscience pile.”
6. The Park is a Treasure Trove of Archaeological Sites
The Petrified Forest history is fascinating. In fact, the park’s history extends way beyond the fossils. Archaeologists have discovered over 800 ancient sites here, including pit houses, pueblos, pottery shards, and tools. These remnants tell the story of Indigenous peoples who lived in the area until a prolonged drought forced them to leave around the early 1400s.
The middle section of the park has several historic sites to visit, including the ruins and petroglyphs at Puerco Pueblo and the petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock.
7. Newspaper Rock Has Over 650 Petroglyphs
One of the park’s most fascinating stops is Newspaper Rock, where you’ll find more than 650 ancient petroglyphs etched into stone. These rock carvings, created by the ancestral Puebloan people between 650 and 2,000 years ago, depict animals, humans, and mysterious symbols.
You visit an overlook and look down on to several large rocks covered in petroglyphs. There are viewfinders there, but if you have your own binoculars, I recommend taking them so you can see the rock drawings in more detail.
8. It’s One of the Few National Park That Closes Every Night
Unlike most U.S. national parks, Petrified Forest closes to visitors every evening. There are no campgrounds inside the park, and the gates shut to help protect the petrified wood from theft. Day visitors can explore from morning until around 5:00 pm before the gates automatically lock for the night.
Signs advise you to be in your vehicle by 7:00pm. You can still get through the gates – they open automatically to let you out.
The next morning, if you want to be in the park first thing, you can wait in line at the gates, which open automatically when the park opens.
9. Those Broken Logs? Nature Did It
As you look at the petrified wood from viewpoints or walk around them, you’ll often see long logs lying on the ground that are broken into multiple segments.
You may think that the park’s long fossilized logs often were cut with a chainsaw – that’s what it looks like. But they’re actually broken naturally. As the Colorado Plateau uplifted over millions of years, stress caused the brittle quartz-filled logs to fracture into neat segments.
10. Petrified Wood Is Almost Pure Quartz
The colorful fossilized logs you see in the park are made up almost entirely of quartz. Their dazzling reds, yellows, purples, and blacks come from trace minerals like iron and manganese that infused the wood during the fossilization process.
Try to visit when it’s sunny if you can – the sunshine really makes the quartz in the petrified wood sparkle.
11. Dinosaurs Once Roamed This Area
How old is the Petrified Forest?
Step back 200 million years and you’d find a swampy rainforest filled with giant ferns and towering trees—and dinosaurs! Fossils of ancient plants and animals from the Triassic Period, including reptiles and early dinosaurs, have been uncovered in the park, making it a paleontologist’s dream.
Stop in at the Rainbow Forest Visitor Center at the southern end of the park. There’s a small museum there that has pictures of the dinosaurs in the environment as it most likely looked when the trees were growing. it’s very cool to see – and a little creepy. They weren’t cute, that’s for sure!
12. The Forest Once Stood in Costa Rica
This blows my mind! When these trees were alive during the Late Triassic period, they stood not in Arizona, but in what is now Costa Rica!
Over millions of years, continental drift carried this ancient forest to its current location in the American Southwest.
More Information About Petrified Forest National Park
Are you feeling inspired to visit Petrified Forest National Park? Start planning your trip now with these guides:
Do you have any other fun Petrified Forest facts to share? I’d love to hear them. Join my private Facebook group National Parks Collectors and comment and let me know (you can also pick up extra planning tips, share your photos and stories with other national park lovers and more).
If you enjoyed these fun facts, Pin It to your Petrified Forest National Park board!
About the Author
James Ian is a national park, camping and hiking expert.
He has dedicated his life to travel, visiting more than 80 countries, all 7 continents and most of the national parks in the United States. With over 35 years experience in the travel industry, James has worked on cruise ships, at resorts and hotels, and as a travel planner who’s helped hundreds of people plan successful trips to US national parks.
Based on his experience visiting our national parks multiple times, in-depth research and expertise as a travel planner, James has published detailed itineraries for many of the major national parks in the US. These itineraries, as well as in-depth park guides, and other resources will help you have your own incredible trip to US national parks without stress and hassle.
As a national park expert, James has contributed to many publications, including USA Today, Newsweek, Time Business News, Savoteur, Best Trip, and Wired.
I’m a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.