Rainbow-colored fossil logs and Painted Desert badlands, right off Route 66.
Photo: daveynin · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Two hundred and twenty million years ago, this corner of Arizona was a humid floodplain of towering conifers. The trees fell, were buried in volcanic ash, and slowly turned to stone — wood replaced molecule by molecule with quartz and jasper until the logs became jewels. Today Petrified Forest National Park protects one of the largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood on Earth, scattered across the high desert like a spilled treasure, alongside the banded badlands of the Painted Desert.
It's the rare national park built to be driven straight through. A 28-mile road runs the length of it, linking the Painted Desert overlooks at the north end (off Interstate 40, exit 311) to the densest petrified-wood fields in the south (off US-180). You can enter one end and exit the other in a couple of hours, or take half a day to walk the short trails — Blue Mesa's loop down into blue-gray badlands, the Crystal Forest's path among glittering logs, the petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock and Puerco Pueblo. It's also the only national park that historic Route 66 ran through, marked today by a line of old telephone poles and a rusting 1932 Studebaker.
A few practical notes: the park road and both gates run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and not a minute longer, so there's no camping or lodging inside and no sunrise or sunset from within the boundary (base in Holbrook, on Route 66). And the rule everyone learns — it's illegal to take even a pebble of petrified wood, a temptation so persistent the park is famous for the 'conscience letters' thieves mail back with the stolen pieces and tales of bad luck. Buy a legal piece from a shop outside instead, and leave the park as colorful as you found it.
Petrified Forest is built to be driven through rather than driven to. One 28-mile road crosses it from I-40 to US-180, so the park works as a two-hour detour off a cross-country drive rather than a destination you set aside a day for. It is also one of the very few national parks that locks its gates at night — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., every day of the year.
The north entrance sits immediately off exit 311, which is the whole proposition here: you can leave I-40, drive the length of a national park, and rejoin the highway having lost about two hours. The Painted Desert Visitor Center just inside the gate has the park's only fuel pump, convenience store and diner, so it doubles as a decent interstate stop even if you never go further in.
Nineteen miles out of Holbrook to the south gate. Enter here and you exit onto I-40 at the north end, or the reverse — either way it is a through-route, not an out-and-back.
The old road crossed what is now park land, and the park protects that stretch — a line of leaning telephone poles and a rusting 1932 Studebaker marking where the pavement ran before the interstate replaced it. There is no driving it; it is a pull-off and a look.
Gates open 8am to 5pm daily, closed Thanksgiving and Christmas
North to south the road runs from the Painted Desert rim, across the old Route 66 alignment and I-40, then down through Blue Mesa and the log-strewn flats to the south gate. Everything worth seeing is a short walk from a pull-off, so it drives as a string of five-minute stops rather than a hike.
TipDo not start the crossing after about 3pm. The far gate is locked at 5 and you are expected to be out by then, so a late entry turns a leisurely drive into a scramble. Mid-morning to mid-afternoon suits the interstate anyway.
A one-way loop road out onto a mesa of banded blue and grey badlands, with a paved mile-long trail dropping off the rim into them. The single best twenty minutes in the park and easily missed if you keep to the through-road.
The first section in from the interstate, running along the rim of the Painted Desert past a series of overlooks and the Painted Desert Inn. Late afternoon is when the color actually appears — at noon it flattens out to grey.
A string of rim overlooks above banded badlands glowing red, pink, lavender, and gray — anchored by the 1930s Painted Desert Inn, a Pueblo Revival landmark with Hopi murals.
Insider tipCome straight in at 8 a.m. opening or in the last hour before the 5 p.m. closing — low light makes the colors pop, while midday flattens them. Kachina Point behind the Inn is a standout.
Plan a trip to this spot →The park's most striking close-up badlands — a short paved loop trail that descends right into blue-gray, mineral-banded hills.
Insider tipThe best short hike in the park: easy, about a mile, and the only trail that puts you inside the painted layers rather than viewing from a rim.
Plan a trip to this spot →A paved 0.75-mile loop through one of the densest fields of colorful fossil logs in the park, quartz and jasper glinting inside the petrified wood.
Insider tipIf you only do one petrified-wood walk, make it this one — short, paved, and maximum log density per step.
Plan a trip to this spot →An overlook above a boulder cluster carved with 650-plus petroglyphs, some over 2,000 years old, left by ancestral Puebloans.
Insider tipUse the fixed viewing telescopes at the overlook — you view from above, so the scopes are how you pick out individual figures.
Plan a trip to this spot →A 100-room ancestral Puebloan village with a solstice-marker petroglyph — and nearby, the preserved roadbed of historic Route 66, marked by old poles and a rusted vintage car.
Insider tipPair the two adjacent stops; the Route 66 marker is a quick, photogenic pull-off that anchors the park's road-trip story.
Plan a trip to this spot →An overlook above a broad basin scattered with petrified logs — the larger of the two main wood concentrations, with a historic road grade descending into it.
Insider tipThe overlook alone delivers the panorama; the old road route below is a longer, quieter walk for solitude.
Plan a trip to this spot →High-desert Colorado Plateau at around 5,400 feet: hot summers (July highs in the low 90s, occasionally over 100), cold winters (December–January lows in the low 20s), and very dry — about 10 inches of moisture a year, much of it in violent July–August monsoon thunderstorms. Expect big day-to-night temperature swings and serious wind, especially in late winter and spring.
It's a drive-through park — enter one end, exit the other, no backtracking — and both gates are locked outside 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Off I-40 at exit 311, about 26 miles east of Holbrook, at the Painted Desert Visitor Center — the north end's badlands overlooks, and the only fuel, diner and store on the route. The handy stop for I-40 travelers.
On US-180 about 19 miles from Holbrook, at the Rainbow Forest Museum — nearest the densest petrified-wood fields. Drive the 28-mile road one-way between the two.
There's no lodging or developed campground inside the park, and it closes at night — stay in the Route 66 gateway towns.
The closest base, about 26 miles west — classic Route 66 motels including the iconic Wigwam Motel, where you sleep in a concrete tipi.
Booking tipHolbrook is the natural overnight; the Wigwam Motel is a Route 66 experience in itself.
Winslow (~55 miles west, the 'Standin' on the Corner' town and the historic La Posada Hotel) and Gallup, NM (~70 miles east) are the other Route 66 lodging hubs.
Booking tipWinslow's La Posada is a destination hotel worth the stop for westbound travelers.
The only in-park overnight is wilderness backcountry camping on a free permit, picked up in person at either visitor center by 4:30 p.m., with your camp at least a mile from where you parked.
Booking tipThere are no drive-up campsites and no dispersed or RV camping of any kind — this is for backpackers willing to hike in.
What does it cost?
$25 per private vehicle, good for 7 days and both gates; $20 on a motorcycle, $15 per person walking or cycling in, and under 16 free. A Petrified Forest annual pass runs $45, or the $80 America the Beautiful pass gets you in. Bring a card — the park takes no cash at all.
What are the hours — can I visit at night?
No. The road and both gates run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas, with no extended summer hours — so there is no sunrise and no sunset inside the park, ever. Give yourself two hours before closing if you enter at the far gate. One quirk worth knowing: Arizona doesn't observe daylight saving, so 5 p.m. here is Mountain Standard all year, and the Navajo Nation to the north runs an hour ahead in summer.
Can I camp or stay inside the park?
There's no lodging, no developed campground, no RV or dispersed camping, and no overnight parking. The only in-park option is wilderness backcountry camping: a free permit from either visitor center by 4:30 p.m., and you pitch at least a mile from your vehicle. Otherwise stay in Holbrook, Winslow, or Gallup.
Can I take a piece of petrified wood?
No — it's illegal to remove any petrified wood or other natural object, with fines. (The park is famous for the 'conscience letters' people mail back with stolen pieces, blaming their bad luck.) Buy legally collected wood from a shop outside the park instead.
How long does a visit take?
Plan two to four hours for the drive-through with overlook stops, or a half-day if you add the short trails — Blue Mesa, Crystal Forest, and the Painted Desert Inn.
Where does it fit on a road trip?
It sits right on I-40 between Albuquerque and Flagstaff/Grand Canyon, so it's an easy drive-through detour — enter at the north (I-40) end, drive south, and exit on US-180 toward Holbrook.
Pick your vehicle, line up the stops on the way in and out, and carry the whole route in your pocket.
