The drive from Flagstaff to the Petrified Forest National Park can certainly serve as one long scenic tour. The mountains are breathtakingly arrayed in many different colours, layers, and textures. All around lay vast tracts of land with mysterious looking canyons that have opened up right at ground level. Numerous species of cacti decorate the harsh landscape. This area of Arizona is known as the Painted Desert. It is thought that the first Spanish explorers had given it this name.

Off in the distance, the summer visitor will often see storm systems assaulting the desert. It is very easy to be caught right in the middle of a flash flood with no way to see, or know, what will happen next. Then, it is over almost as quickly as it began; only to find that there are still a few more, just like that one, lying in wait.

Arriving at Petrified Forest National Park

The very first thing to hit the visitor is the sense that something is missing. There is the expectation that one should see trees standing upright; petrified in some way. That is not the case. No trees are standing in this forest. However, stumps of petrified wood can be found in a upright positions, in various places.