Petrified Forrest and the Painted Desert
On our way from Tucson, AZ to Aztec, NM we stopped for 3 nights in the little town of Holbrook, AZ, This town is the gateway to the Petrified Forest and since I was not going to make the drive from Tucson to Aztec in one day, it was the perfect, a little over midway, point to stop.
This post will be short on words and long on photos. Short on words, because even for me, it is hard to adequately describe this place. Long on photos, because, well, its hard to find words to describe this place.
Just a few quick facts before the picture parade. The trees that are now petrified, were last standing some 250 million years ago when all the continents were one giant land mass called Pangea. I don’t actually know what it was called back then but since there were no humans around and for some reason I doubt that the animals that were there were talking, we will just go with Pangea. The land that became the Petrified Forest was located at around 10 degrees north latitude or about where Costa Rica is today.
As you walk around this place, and it is a lot of walking, you see the Petrified Trees everywhere. I tried to get some pictures that show scale but it was difficult. These were some big trees. There was also some wild life, as can be expected, and I got pictures of a few lizards and one crow that was determined to stay on the ground in the parking lot and get people to give him food. If you got too close, he would give you a nasty look and hop away.
The drive through the Petrified Forest is about 18 miles long. At the other end of the National Park, is the Painted Desert, so two great locations for the price of one. Most of the pictures I got were of the Petrified Forest, there are some at the end of the Painted Desert. To be honest, we were not as impressed with the Painted Desert. Or maybe it was because we had already hiked 6 miles and were more than a bit tired.
The day after we did the Forest and Desert, we traveled over to Meteor Crater which according to their own museum, is the largest and best preserved impact crater on the planet. Amazingly, it was only formed about 50,000 years ago which in geological time is just a day or two ago. So, there is no doubt that humans saw this meteor burning through the sky on the day it impacted. We got a few good pictures include a few panorama shots of this mile across hole in the ground.
Oh, I just remembered, I’ve uploaded a bunch of new selfies for your enjoyment.
Well, enjoy the photos. Please leave your comments and questions and if you have not already done so, please subscribe to follow the web site so I don’t have to keep posting “hey, I’ve updated the web site” on FB.
TTFN
