Petrified Forest National Park

Sunrise and sunset are favorite times to view the colorful Painted Desert of the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area
A landscape where deep time lies fully on display, Petrified Forest National Park blends colorful badlands, vast grasslands, and one of the world’s largest and most vivid collections of petrified wood. Spanning more than 200 million years of geologic history, the park protects ancient fossils, ancestral Puebloan sites, habitat for desert animals, and a sweeping stretch of historic Route 66.
Map showing location of park.
Sunlit Painted Desert hills of the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area
Photo by NPS Photo
Sunset lights up the Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark west side.
Photo by NPS Photo
Sunlight highlights the colorful petrified wood of Agate House
Photo by NPS Photo
Masonry wall foundations are all that are left of a hundred room pueblo
Photo by NPS Photo/Andrew V. Kearns
Two visitors walk the Blue Mesa Trail between blue, purple, and grey badlands.
Photo by NPS Photo
many petrified logs lay on the ground and on eroded pedestals of clay
Photo by NPS Photo/Andrew V. Kearns
A beam of light touches a petroglyph at Puerco Pueblo on the summer solstice
Photo by NPS Photo
a petroglyph pecked into sandstone that represents a mountain lion
Photo by NPS Photo/Stuart Holmes
Researchers dig for fossils in the badlands
Photo by NPS Photo
yellow and other colors in a piece of brightly colored petrified wood
Photo by NPS Photo
Dark blue sky filled with stars over banded badland.
Photo by NPS/Jacob Holgerson