Did it.
Too bad the full route’s been decommissioned.
Petrified National Park – Newspaper rock
Newspaper rock was a stop where you could look at well preserved petroglyphs.
I don’t know why I was so excited but I was, so I ran out ahead of Nicholas.
Since the rocks were far away we were encouraged to check them out using binoculars.
My conclusion is that I can draw like they did too.
I decided to wait for Nicholas on the walk back to the car.
Dinosaurs!
Ok they weren’t real ones, but apparently these types of dinosaurs roamed the region.
I wish dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct.
I would have greatly enjoyed riding one.
Petrified National Forest – Crystal Forest
Next on our list was Crystal Forest. This place used to be the home of many petrified logs in a variety of colours. But the best looking ones were hauled away by the first visitors before the whole region became protected…so we only got to see the specimens deemed not worth taking (or too heavy).
Still it was cool to see a few up close.
Petrified National Forest – Agate Bridge
Our next stop was Agate Bridge, which involved backtracking 15 miles towards the entrance. This is the kind of smart planning that happens when everyone in the car is groggy! By now it’s only about 8:00am and but the light is already super bright.
Agate Bridge was nothing special. It’s just a petrified log that formed a bridge when all the stuff under it washed out.
I made up for my disappointment by climbing a nearby tree that wasn’t petrified.
Petrified National Forest – Blue Mesa
Blue Mesa was our first stop at the Petrified National Forest. It’s located in the middle of the park and had a 1 mile hiking loop. There were a few specimens of petrified logs on the ground. At least what was left after earlier settlers hauled out the best logs. This area was once a subtropical area with dinosaurs and other cool things. Once, as in about 225 million years ago. Now it’s a bunch of hills with stripes in them and logs in them.
Petrified wood is formed when dead trees soak in mud for a really really long time. Over time, minerals in the mud such as manganese, iron and copper replace the organic parts of the wood and turn the whole thing into stone. The stuff is heavy. And hard. In fact it rates 7.8 on Moh’s scale. That’s like well on its way to being as hard as a diamond!
Petrified National Forest
So we got up early to go to Petrified National Forest. We were the only ones on the road and probably the first ones to the park…with the exception of the park rangers who probably live in the park.
Neither of us were awake for the first picture.
One thing about being at dry and high elevations (6000 feet) early in the morning is that it gets really cold. We were both shivering for this picture.
At least it wasn’t overly bright yet.
On the road again
Nobody else in sight. That’s probably a sign we should have stayed in bed. The clock does not really say 6:10 AM does it?!
The cacti of Arizona
The cacti are plentiful in Arizona. I’d never seen cacti before, so we pulled over onto a dirt path on the side of the road to check them out. I kind of dig it.
Only afterwards did I think about the fact that Nicholas didn’t have his AAA memebership reactivated and that if we’d busted a tire driving on those rocky dirt paths on some remote leg of the freeway out of cellphone reception that things would have been mightily inconvenient.
But that didn’t happen so all is good.
Eastward still!
The sunniest place one earth…
Is Yuma, Arizona. And San Pedro de Atacama, Chile is the driest place on earth. And I’ve now been to both. Nailed it.
I learned about this city from Nicholas. It was along our route so we decided to stop in and check out their old prison. Why not?
Nicholas promised to play Red Dead Redemption with me once we’re back home, since it features Yuma.
Onwards!