Such an underrated national park! I will admit I hadn’t even heard of this park until recently. Of the 59 national parks in the US in 2017, this one was the 31st most visited by number of visitors (627,757 visitors). It has some similarities to Death Valley, particularly the Badlands and Artist’s Palette areas.

The drive from Phoenix was just a touch over 3 hours, through various scenery – started with fields of cacti, moved on to shrubs and small trees, until we found ourselves at over 7k ft with tall trees, snow, rain, and fog. The views in this section were great on the drive back to Phoenix, when it was sunny with no fog. We were able to see the surrounding mountainous scenery.

We spent about 4 hours in the park, driving from the north entrance to the south. The northern area is made up of the Painted Desert scenery, whereas the southern has more petrified wood scattered around.

It was EXTREMELY windy the day we were there, with winds reaching up to 35 mph! We were originally very motivated to do a number of short hikes but the wind was a big deterrent. My hat even flew off my head at one point, causing me to chase it down a steep hill.

As you start heading south bound in the park, you pass over historic route 66 with this 1932 Studebaker marking where the road once cut through the park.

Even with the wind, we stopped at most scenic points / attractions throughout the park to admire the scenery and take some photos. The Tepees are worth stopping near to take in the breathtaking scenery. There is a pull-off shortly after passing the tepees themselves.

The Blue Mesa area was breathtaking and deserves a break to admire the scenery. There is a short hike (1 mile, easy) that is certainly worth doing. It takes you down through the blue badlands of this park and offers the first sights of petrified wood in the park.

The farther south you go, the more petrified wood can be found lying around the park, especially at the Jasper Forest and Crystal Forest areas. 

The journey through the park ends at the Rainbow Forest Museum, with the Giant Logs Trail. Here you can pick up a brochure and walk the 0.4 mile Giant Logs Trail loop to learn more about petrified wood and the area. You can also do the 2.6 mi hike to Long Logs and Agate House to see a pueblo reconstructed of petrified wood. We opted to skip the longer hike because of the crazy winds – next time!