21 Best Sights in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Although it's only 1 mile long and significantly steeper than the rest, this trail at the park's midway point is one of the most popular and worth the effort. Moderate.

Here you'll see a 100-foot log spanning a 40-foot-wide wash.

A fairly flat 1-mile trip takes you to an eight-room pueblo sitting high on a knoll. Moderate.

This eight-room pueblo is thought to have been built entirely of petrified wood 700 years ago. Researchers believe it might have been used as a temporary dwelling by seasonal farmers or traders from one of the area tribes.

Near the north entrance, this small spot has tables and restrooms.

The fragments of petrified wood strewn here once held clear quartz and amethyst crystals.

This easy ¾-mile loop leads you past petrified wood that once held quartz crystals and amethyst chips. Easy.

A short walk leads you past the park's largest log, known as Old Faithful. It's considered the largest because of its diameter (9 feet 9 inches), as well as how tall it once was.

At 0.4 mile, Giant Logs is the park's shortest trail. The loop leads you to Old Faithful, the park's largest petrified log—9 feet, 9 inches at its base, weighing an estimated 44 tons. Easy.

More of an overlook than a forest, this spot has a large concentration of petrified trees in jasper or red.

This is the trailhead for wilderness hiking at Petrified Forest National Park. A 1-mile trail leads to the Wilderness Area, but from there you're on your own. There are no developed trails, so hiking here is cross-country style. Expect to see strange formations, beautifully colored landscapes, and maybe, just maybe, a pronghorn antelope. Difficult.

Although barren, this easy 1.6-mile loop passes the largest concentration of wood in the park. Easy.

See huge boulders covered with petroglyphs believed to have been carved by the Pueblo people more than 500 years ago.

Look through the binoculars that are provided here—you'll be surprised at what the naked eye misses.

A nice place to stop and rest in the shade, this site offers vast views of the Painted Desert from several lookouts. Inside, cultural history exhibits, murals, and Native American crafts are on display.

The 1-mile trail is at its best in early morning or late afternoon, when the sun accentuates the brilliant red, blue, purple, and other hues of the desert and petrified forest landscape. Moderate.

A 28-mile scenic drive takes you through the park from one entrance to the other. If you begin at the north end, the first 5 miles take you along the edge of a high mesa, with spectacular views of the Painted Desert. Beyond lies the desolate Painted Desert Wilderness Area. After the 5-mile point, the road crosses Interstate 40, then swings south toward the Puerco River across a landscape covered with sagebrush, saltbrush, sunflowers, and Apache plume. Past the river, the road climbs onto a narrow mesa leading to Newspaper Rock, a panel of Pueblo rock art. Then the road bends southeast, enters a barren stretch, and passes tepee-shape buttes in the distance. Next you come to Blue Mesa, roughly the park's midpoint and a good place to stop for views of petrified logs. The next stop on the drive is Agate Bridge, really a 100-foot log over a wide wash. The remaining overlooks are Jasper and Crystal forests, where you can get further glimpses of the accumulated petrified wood. On your way out of the park, stop at the Rainbow Forest Museum for a rest and to shop for a memento.

There are few places where the span of geologic and human history is as wide or apparent as it is at Petrified Forest National Park, where you can see countless fossils and age-old fossilized trees, plus a stretch of the famed Route 66 of more modern lore protected within park boundaries. Ancestors of the Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo left petroglyphs, pottery, and even structures built of petrified wood. Nine park sites are on the National Register of Historic Places; one, the Painted Desert Inn, is one of only 3% of such sites that are also listed as National Historic Landmarks.

This is a 100-room pueblo, built before 1400 and said to have housed Ancestral Pueblo people. Many visitors come to see the petroglyphs, as well as a solar calendar.

A relatively flat and interesting 0.3-mile trail takes you past remains of a home of the Ancestral Pueblo people, built before 1400. The trail is paved and wheelchair accessible. Easy.

There are restrooms and tables at this small picnic area near the south entrance.

Witness the effects of time on these cone-shape rock formations colored by iron, manganese, and other minerals.