Route 66 Day 34 Nov 11, 2019


Second day at the Petrified Forest National Park.  I decided to head to the southern entrance and start with the museum and some of the best petrified wood sites.  Got an early start but still took me the best part of an hour to get there.  Rainbow Forest Museum is the first step.  The museum contains more than just information about wood, it also contains a lot of information about the critters that roamed the area back in the Triassic Period.  There were a lot of crocodile looking things only much bigger.  And something that kind of resembled a baby rhino.  I wandered and read then headed out back for the start of the Giant Logs Trail.  This is a short walk with lots of hills and steps that my knees handled but didn't like.  Lots of examples of petrified wood.  Different colors, different shapes and sometimes full logs (although broken into pieces due to the weight of the previous dirt and water that was above them).  It was a nice walk.

I continued with the Long Logs and Agate House hike then drove down to Crystal Forest and did that hike.  I traveled to every POI on the map and took pictures and hiked many.  I saw more petroglyphs and painted desert and an agate bridge (currently being supported by concrete to preserve the structure longer) and Ancient Puebloan homes (what was left of them) and the crossroads with
old Route 66.  The park is easily a full day and beautiful.







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