Petrified Forest National Park

About the only thing the sleepy desert town of Holbrook, Arizona is known for is being the gateway to Petrified Forest National Park. After staying the night, I woke up early and spent an hour driving through the the last national park of my trip (the twelfth!) before starting the long drive back to Austin.

The park was empty and lunar in the early morning sun. Its pools of red, purple, and gray sands were interrupted only by yellow grasses, the blue horizon, and colorful bursts of sap and bark frozen in crystalline permanence. Large collections of petrified wood, of which Petrified Forest National Park is one of the largest, are known as "forests" even though the trees are no longer standing.

I walked through the Rainbow Forest near the visitor center and as well as the Crystal Forest about midway through the south unit. Both forests showcase the vibrant rock art time and chemistry have sculpted and painted using tree carcasses. Then the park road crosses the highway, which used to be part of the famed Route 66, and descends into the Painted Desert, where I took in a couple overlooks.

I wish I could have spent more time in the dry lonely Arizonan desert, but seeing it briefly was better than not seeing the strange surfaces at all. It was time to go home to Texas.