Books, Bites, and Sights

March 11th, 2026

A One-Hit Wonder: How to Make the Most of Petrified Forest National Park in One Day

A realist. I pride myself in being one when appropriate.

Saying that Petrified Forest National Park is a one day affair, IMO, isn’t a bad thing. The park is beautiful and unique, but, to be blunt, it is small and has an extremely simple layout. There are no long, windy drives or extreme hikes, making capturing all of Petrified Forest’s beauty in less than 12 hours very manageable. Truth be told, I am unsure how you could stretch the park out anymore than one day without becoming resentful or bored, unless you wanted to do backcountry backpacking.

I started my visit by driving into the park’s North entrance via I-40. There is only one main road through the entire park, and driving that road from point-to-point (Painted Desert Visitor Center to Rainbow Forrest Museum) without stopping takes about 45 minutes.

Here are all the stops I made along the way; checking off all my Petrified Forest must-do boxes in under 12 hours:

• The first building you come to after entering the park’s North entrance is the main visitor center, the Painted Desert Visitor Center, but during my visit, it was under construction and closed. However, I did walk to the Painted Desert Diner next door and paid $10 for their charbroiled chicken sandwich on a gluten-free bun with lettuce and tomatoes. A quick, cheap, hot bite to start off my exploration.
• Because the main visitor center is under construction, we were told that the temporary visitor center was set up 10 minutes down the road at the Painted Desert Inn. We quickly stopped by for our obligatory stickers and stamps.
• Outside the Painted Desert Inn is the Painted Desert Rim Trail, a 1.3 mile out-and-back trail. This short, easy to follow trail is a must because of the striking and vast pink, red, and white views of the Painted Desert below. As you drive further into the park, the colors will shift from red and pink hues to washed-out blues and purples, so skipping this first stop means you’ll be missing out.

• Into history? The Route 66 pullout was my next stop along the road. No more than a quick stop – a 1932 Studebaker now marks the path of the historic, iconic highway. Shortly after the Route 66 pullout is Newspaper Rock, an overlook of two large boulders with over 600 petroglyphs. Again, no more than a five minute stop.
• Keep driving south to get to the Historic Blue Forest Trail, an old 2.7 mile out-and-back CCC trail that takes you directly to the Blue Mesa Trail, an additional 1 mile paved loop. This was my favorite trail in the park, but I wouldn’t of known about it without using the AllTrails app. There is a pullout to mark the trailhead, but this trail is not listed on the park’s official map. The blue, gray, and purple badlands created an experience that was unlike any I’ve had on my 63 in 365 journey. And as an added treat, this trail was the first portion of the park where I began to see the namesake petrified wood scattered about.

• Next stop: Want to learn more about, touch, climb on top of, or take selfies with the captivating petrified wood? The Crystal Forest Trail, a 1 mile loop, is the place to do all the above.

• At the end of the park’s main road is the Rainbow Forest Museum and the Giant Logs Loop (0.5 miles). Here you can see the largest petrified log in Petrified Forest National Park, 35 feet long, 10 feet across at its base, weighing about 44 tons, and 200-million-year-old. Mind-blowing. The Rainbow Forest Museum is also worth-wild, especially for understanding the prehistoric timeline and geology of the area.

• Once at the South entrance of the park, Amory and I turned around, road back to the North entrance of the park, got onto I-40, and headed West toward Holbrook for Campfire Adventure Camp, our Hipcamp for the night.

All in all, we spent 7 hours at Petrified Forest National Park, and I don’t feel we missed out on anything. The park’s attractions and landscapes are vastly different than any other national park and well worth a day trip, especially if you’re passing through the area.

Will I return to the park? Probably not. Genuinely, I feel that I saw all there is to see and got the most of all that the park had to offer. To reiterate and add to the point made in this post’s title: Petrified Forest is a one-hit wonder, but a wonder worth visiting nonetheless.

Happy trails to you reader, and hopefully one of those trails leads you to or through Petrified Forest National Park. Oh! And believe it or not, Amory and I are officially more than half-way through our 63 in 365 journey! As always, I will keep you posted. Until next Monday. Xoxo.