We struck out east one hundred miles to the Petrified National Forest. We would have driven right through it on our way from New Mexico to Flagstaff, but we had left the highway to go north to Cortez and Mesa Verde. So yes, we backtracked a wee bit. I didn't want to miss the petrified forest. Ron didn't want to miss any of the pavement on his beloved I-40.
Almost immediately out of Flagstaff we were in the desert. The temperature began to climb, reaching 76°. The wind continued to batter everything in its path - us, the highway, the endless rock formations, the tiny homes clinging to the ever-shifting surface. The wind is relentless. I have lived in harsh climates. I have witnessed the sun and salt of coastal Florida reduce outdoor grills to crumbles, and peel the paint off any painted surface. But nothing compares to the desert. I think it must take a special endurance to survive this climate.
During the shut down of the pandemic, Ron and I watched a lot of TV. One of the obscure films we caught was Nomadland. It was hard to watch at times. It was more documentary than story, following the journey of a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. And now we found ourselves in that world. We could see the vast desolate stretches of land dotted with van-dwelling and camper-dwelling peoples. There was no water or electricity, no services or facilities of any kind. Nothing but the wind and sun. Having watched the film, I felt a strange turmoil of emotions as I looked out of the window of our luxury car. Compassion. Pity. Respect. And more emotions so raw that I could not even name them. This, too, is America.
The land here wasn't always desert, as we learned when we entered the Petrified National Forest. The park is long and narrow, and the 25 mile park road which leads visitors through the park runs at a slight NE to SW angle, with a small visitor center at each end. We started at the north end, where vistas of the beautiful painted dessert could be seen from almost every curve in the road. Formed over 200 millions years as continents moved, climate changed, and the river system of this prehistoric tropical rainforest were buried by layers of sediment. Yes, this was once a lush, green, tropical rainforest! Wind and water have continually molded, sculpted, and peeled back these layers, giving us the Painted Dessert we see today.
There were lots of pull outs, and plenty of parking. This park doesn't get many visitors, which is a shame. In the words of Horace Howard Furness in 1906, "I hardly dare write the words, but truthfulness compels me to say that in the Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, on the score of interest, has a rival."
The Ancestral Pueblo lived here for more than 13,000 years. The park road offered a stop near one of the settlements, a 100 room complex that formed a courtyard. The footprint is still visible today. A little further along is "Newspaper Rock", a grouping of rocks containing over 650 two-thousand-year-old drawings, called petroglyphs, like this one.
Continuing south on the park road, we crossed the interstate, then old Route 66 and the Santa Fe railroad, into the remnants of prehistoric forests. The desert floor here is covered with fossilized plants and animals, and petrified wood. The park map describes it best: "Like precious gems shining in the sun...colorful specimens are strewn across the landscape. As the trees died or were knocked down by wind or water, many were carried downstream and buried by layers of sediment. The logs soaked up groundwater and silica from volcanic ash and over time crystalized into quartz. Different minerals created the rainbow of colors seen in many places."
We had planned to hike one of the trails, but instead found a quiet place to sit among these giants. They had been alive, once. Where else on earth could one touch the past like this? I placed my hand against the now-stone bark, and imagined the river that ran here, the towering forest of trees, the underbrush teeming with dinosaurs, plants, and animals long extinct. It is humbling.
"... where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain"
-Wilderness Act of 1964
Car Talk
266 Miles
Driving Time: 4 hours, 49 minutes
Average mileage 32.2 mpg
Average speed: 55 mph
Total Trip: 3,071.1 miles
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