Petrified Forest & Painted Desert

The Ralphie Update - Tom tossed him outside the night of his untimely demise ... in the morning there were animal footprints all around - maybe a raccoon.  There is no sign that Ralphie left any next of kin.

Today we hunted for our own petrified wood in two sites that were listed in a gem map book that Tom bought.  The locations were not too hard to find and we found some really cool specimens.  Our pockets were full as well as a grocery bag ... and Tom got to do a little off-roading with the truck.

But then we went to Petrified Forest and saw the real stuff - just amazing - painted desert and its trees turned to stones.

This high, dry grassland was once a vast floodplain crossed by many streams.  Tall, stately conifer trees grew along the banks. (Araucariosylon, Woodworthis, Schilderia and others,) fell and swollen streams washed them into adjacent floodplains.  A mix of silt, mud and volcanic ash buried the logs.  This sediment cut off oxygen and slowed the logs' decay.  Silica-laden groundwater seeped through the logs and replaced the original wood tissues with silica deposits.  Eventually the silica crystallized into quartz and the logs were preserved as petrified wood.

Petrified wood's varied colors came from minerals in the silica-saturated waters, iron, carbon, manganese and sometimes cobalt and chromium produced patterns and blends of yellow, red, black, blue, brown, white and pink.  Petrified wood weighs nearly 200 pounds per cubic foot and is seven on the 10 point scale for hardness.

In the 1850's military survey parties passing through filled their saddlebags with petrified wood, as word spread, fossil logs were hauled off by the wagonload for tabletops, lamps and mantels.  Then collectors begain dynamiting logs searching for amethyst and quartz crystals.  In 1906 the area was designated a national park.  Today it is illegal to remove anything from the park - your car can be searched upon exiting.

The colorful banded badlands of the Painted Desert is a backdrop for this scene.  Giant fossilized logs, many of them fractured into cord-wood size segments, lie scattered throughout.  It reminds you of the woodpile that is in many a yard ... only this one is made of stone.

Old Faithful - the largest fossil log - diameter 9.5 feet.

This log was probably struck by lightening.

This is an 800 year old puebloan dwelling.  It was originally 8 rooms constructed of mortared petrified wood and adobe.

The teepees

Messages on Stone - Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs are images, symbols, or designs that are scratched, pecked, carved, or incised on natural rock surfaces by using a direct blow for a rock called a hammerstone.  The dark coating found on many rock surfaces is called desert varnish.  Many petroglyphs are made by pecking or scratching through this thin patina to reveal the original color of the rock.

It is believed that petroglyphs may tell a story, mark a trail or commemorate an event.  Some images may have been made to ensure fertility or successful hunting, or may have also been used to keep track of the seasons. 

The Painted Desert Inn operated in the early 1920's as a tourist attraction.  Six small rooms were available for two to four dollars per night.

The day ended watching the sun set in the west and lighting flashing in dark storm clouds to the east.

Then pizza at a restaurant we found in the travel book Bob gave Tom for Christmas - nice pick - it was delicious.