Petrified Forest National Park
The Petrified Forest National Park was once a swampy forest, but is now a scrubland desert with quartz-wrapped logs from 225 million years ago.
Visiting Petrified Forest National Park is like taking a step back in time, you won’t believe the stunning natural beauty that awaits at this park. You will be treated to the uniquely gorgeous hill of Painted Desert and the fascinating petrified trees that date back hundreds of millions of years. Believe it or not, these trees fell and became petrified or mineralized before the dinosaurs roamed the earth!
What Is Petrified Wood?
One of the things that makes Petrified Forest National Park truly unique is that these petrified trees are 225 million years old. This area, that now encompasses the National Park, was part of the massive supercontinent of Pangea. After these massive trees fell they were buried in a river channel.
So how do trees become petrified? Well, the river water mineralizes slowly from crystal quartz. After tectonic movement nearly 60 million years ago, the petrified trees were unearthed. Take a close look at the trees and you will notice beautifully colorful quartz crystals within.
It’s important that visitors to the park do not disturb the petrified wood. Do not try to take petrified wood from the park, it’s illegal! If you want to take some home with you after visiting the National Park check out the local wood shops in Holbrook. This petrified wood is taken from private land and is therefore legal to purchase.
Places to Stay When Visiting Petrified Forest
There are no campgrounds or lodging inside the park. In fact, you must be out of the park by 5pm if you don’t have a backcountry camping permit.
We think Holbrook, NM is the best spot to spend the night, but Winslow is a decent option as well. If you didn’t want to spend the night here, you can always visit the park, then go farther west to Flagstaff, which has much more hotels, Airbnbs, and restaurants. Here are some distances from nearby cities to the main visitor center in the park:
- Chambers, AZ (23 miles)
- Holbrook, AZ (26 miles)
- Houck, AZ (37 miles)
- St Johns, AZ (67 miles)
- Flagstaff, AZ (116 miles)
VISIT Petrified Forest National Park:
Park Details
Petrified Forest National Park was established in .
| Address | |
|---|---|
| Phone | 928-524-6228 |
| Hours | Park hours are 8am to 5pm, daily. You must leave the park by 5pm. |
| Entrance Fee | $25 per vehicle; Valid for 7 days |
When to Visit: Weather vs. Peak Visitation
We crunched 30 years of historical weather and/or park service data to find the best months to visit Petrified Forest National Park. We looked for the optimal temperatures, the least amount of snow and rain, and stayed away from peak visitation months if we could help it. All this data then helped us paint a picture as to what the absolute best time to visit Petrified Forest National Park is.
Our data shows the best months to visit Petrified Forest National Park are October, April, May & June.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Visits | 24,618 | 22,807 | 58,099 | 37,644 | 63,185 | 79,106 | 74,003 | 56,110 | 54,279 | 59,262 | 14,098 | 27,615 |
| Precipitation | 15 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 18 |
| Avg Temp | 49 | 53 | 62 | 69 | 78 | 88 | 91 | 89 | 83 | 72 | 59 | 49 |
| Max Temp | 61 | 66 | 74 | 81 | 89 | 96 | 98 | 95 | 90 | 82 | 72 | 63 |
| Avg Temp | 29 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 45 | 53 | 63 | 62 | 53 | 42 | 33 | 29 |
| Min Temp | 20 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 32 | 42 | 54 | 55 | 41 | 30 | 23 | 18 |
Petrified Forest National Park Road Trips
Many family vacations consist of stringing one or more national parks together during a week-long trip. Creating these types of trips is our specialty! Here are the road trips we've created where Petrified Forest National Park is visited.
| Trip Name | Trip Miles | Trip Days |
|---|---|---|
| Route 66 National Park Road Trip | 2,300 | 13 |
| Organ Pipe, Saguaro, Gila, Petrified Forest to Sedona | 905 | 8 |
Other Nearby National Park Sites
From national monuments, to historic sites to seashores and more, here are the other parks closest to Petrified Forest National Park.