Where to camp, how much time do you need, what to see and do, and is it worth visiting? For anyone considering RV adventures in Petrified Forest National Park, we’ve been there. We have explored this off-the-beaten path gem and have answers. Read on!
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Top things you need to know about RV adventures in Petrified Forest National Park
Let’s face it – unless you’re travelling from Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico along Interstate 40 or are an historic U.S. Route 66 buff on a road trip, you’re unlikely to come across Petrified Forest National Park unless you make an effort.
It is the least visited of all 3 of Arizona’s national parks.
Around 6 million people visit Grand Canyon every year. Just over 1 million each year explore Saguaro National Park near Tucson. Petrified Forest National Park receives about 650,000 visitors a year. Quiet and remote, Petrified Forest National Park sits at around 5,400 feet (1,645 m) above sea level in the northeastern corner of Arizona.
If you’re looking for RV adventures in Petrified Forest National Park, you’ll have questions. We have answers – read on!
Is there camping in Petrified Forest National Park?
By the late 1800s, word had spread about a unique place where trees had turned to stone. The first visitors began exploring and taking home keepsakes.
In 1895, the Arizona Territorial legislature petitioned the U.S. Congress to protect these resources. Eleven years later, President Theodore Roosevelt created Petrified Forest National Monument. It became a national park in 1962.
Did you know that Petrified Forest is the only national park in the U.S. to close every evening. The gates are closed before dark to stop potential theft of petrified wood.
If you love trivia, be sure to check out our
Arizona: National Parks, Places & People
trivia game on Etsy.
Which means – I hate to say it! – there is no RV camping within Petrified Forest National Park itself. Backpackers can obtain permits for backcountry camping in the Wilderness Area – but there is no front country camping available.
Don’t let that stop you.
Let the Adventues Begin!
We headed out from Homolovi State Park near Winslow with our trailer in tow. Driving through Holbrook – the closest town to Petrified Forest National Park – we considered checking out the Holbrook/Petrified Forest KOA and the OK RV Park. They are good camping options, but we wanted to spend more time in the park. We didn’t want to have to drive 20 minutes each way every day. Stocking up on groceries, we set out for the south entrance to the park, off Highway 180.
We’d read that there was free camping available at the gift shops a few hundred feet from the park entrance. Petrified Forest Gift Shop and RV Park on the west side of the park entrance road. It offers free dry camping (no services) or you can pay $25 for electricity. There is no water, sewer, or dumpster for garbage.
Directly across on the east side of the road, Crystal Forest Gift Shop also offers dry camping with no services for free. There are a few shelters with tables that have seen better days – but oddly enough there were quite a number of various types of other units already parked. We even saw one big rig we’d camped next to at McDowell Mountain Regional Park.
It turned out to be the perfect location for us while we explored the park!
How much time should you spend in Petrified Forest National Park?
You could drive the 28 miles (45 km) from one end of the park to the other in about an hour. By why would you want to? There is so much to explore in between the north and south entrances.
We took 2 1/2 days for adventures in the park. Day 1 was an exploratory half day after setting up camp at Crystal Forest. While some people drove their RVs into the park, we dropped the trailer and went directly to the Rainbow Forest Visitor Centre. We took time getting more information to plan a longer day hike, touring displays, and walking the interpretive trail outside.
Day 2 we did a driving tour along the entire length of the park, stopping and walking most of the interpretive trails and checking out all the sights along the way. On Day 3, we set out for a longer, wilderness day hike in the Painted Desert.
For us, 2 ½ days was good. Some people explore the park – superficially – in a day. Our thoughts are that if you come this far to check it out, you really should spend the time to get a feel for all that Petrified Forest National Park has to offer.
What can I see & do in this incredible Arizona national park?
As with every park, start with the visitor centre(s) for an overview of the park. Learn not only about petrified wood, but other fossils, park geology, archaeology, ecology, and history. Head out on a scenic drive. Explore the remains of Historic Route 66. Lace up the boots and check out the trails. Visit the Painted Desert at sunset. And don’t forget your camera!
Learning all about Petrified Forest National Park
Fossils – that’s what Petrified Forest National Park is best known for – Triassic fossils, both plant and animal. The Triassic Period is sometimes called the “Dawn of the Dinosaurs” because it came right before these massive reptiles rose to prominence in Jurassic Park… I mean… the Jurassic Period.
The park is a breath-taking repository of colorful fossils – including massive, petrified trees almost intact. A forest covered this part of Northeastern Arizona 200 million years ago. There were coniferous trees – like today’s pines, cypress, and cedars – and ginkos – a group unto its own. The forest was destroyed by volcanic lava and embedded in ash.
Water, wind, and time combined to move, change, and ultimately free the trees – now compressed into stunning circular pieces of petrified wood. Like glass rods, they snapped in precision as geological forces such as uplift brought them to the surface.
After touring the info-packed displays in Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Centre – mini courses in geology, paleontology, archaeology, ecology, and history – we took time to wander the Giant Logs Trail (0.3 mi/0.5 km interpretive walk) outside.
This short trail is the perfect introduction to the amazing world that is Petrified Forest National Park – so many photo ops! Beyond the petrified wood, the interpretive brochure even talks about the history of the buildings below. Some were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Outdoor adventures with a dash of history – right up my alley.
Heading out on a driving tour
Excited to explore, we were the second vehicle in line waiting for the gates to open the following morning.
First stop – a walk to Agate House and Long Logs (2.6 mi/4.2 km). Parking below the Rainbow Forest Museum and Visitor Centre, we walked across the bridge over the dry Jim Camp Wash to the signed trailhead.
It’s an easy, slightly uphill walk to Agate House – one of the 11 sites within Petrified Forest National Park on the Register of National Historic Places. Early morning light made the minerals in the rocks glow.
Ancestral Puebloan (formerly known as the Anasazi) people built an eight-room pueblo here some time between 1050 and 1300. They used petrified wood as a building material. Today we survey the 1930’s reconstruction. It’s mind-boggling to imagine what life must have been like for these early inhabitants.
Register of National Historic Places to learn about on an RV adventure in Petrified Forest National Park
- Agate House Pueblo
- Painted Desert Inn
- Flattop Site
- Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs Archeological District
- Painted Desert Petroglyphs and Ruins Archeological District
- Puerco Ruin and Petroglyphs
- Twin Buttes Archeological District
- Thirty-Fifth Parallel Route (Beale Camel Trail)
- Painted Desert Inn
- Petrified Forest Bridge (Rio Puerco Bridge)
- Painted Desert Community Complex Historic District
Human History in Petrified Forest National Park
After walking the short 0.75-mile (1.2 km) Crystal Forest Trail and checking out Agate Bridge, we skipped the Blue Mesa side road – saving it for the trip back towards camp later. Instead we beelined for Puerco Pueblo. The short 0.3-mile (0.5 km) loop trail may not seem like much, but there is a lot to see.
First off, the historic contact (park entrance) station has interpretive signage – including details on prehistoric pottery and points as well as historic photos and information.
Walking the short, paved loop trail, we wandered past low walls unearthed by archaeologists of the pueblo rooms and what was once a kiva (ceremonial chamber).
Petrified Forest has several sites containing petroglyphs (carved images in rock). The largest concentration is at Newspaper Rock – but the closest you can get is a crowded overlook. Both the Newspaper Rock petroglyphs as well as the ones on the low cliffs here at Puerco Pueblo were left by the Puebloan people living near the Puerco River between 650 and 2,000 years ago.
There are anthropomorphic (human), zoomorphic (animal), Katsina (spirit), hands and tracks, and a wide variety of geometric and indeterminate shapes to be seen at the Puerco Pueblo panels. But there was one we just had to find – a small circular petroglyph.
This design carved into the rock is special. It marks the summer solstice. We found it. Of course, it wasn’t the right time of the year to see the light pass through the spiral as the sun rises, but this archaeo-astronomical feature still impresses.
Blue Mesa for a Sunset RV Adventure
As the light dips, we head back south towards camp, stopping for one more stroll off Blue Mesa. The short but steep paved trail down was causing a bit of grief for a few people on their way back up to the parking area, but we smiled politely, moved aside to let them pass, and kept heading down.
More pictures of more petrified wood – it seems we just can’t get our fill. With smiles on our faces, we head back to the truck.
What a day; what a special place.
Historic Route 66
Most people know that the Mother Road – a.k.a. Main Street of America – is Route 66, stretching all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. We’ve visited different segments in the past – including the ones near Kingman, Arizona – but this stretch is iconic.
Did you know that Petrified Forest is the only national park that protects a section of Route 66 within its boundaries?
Established in 1926, the 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of U.S. Route 66 was just a road like any other. After WWII there was a boom of road trip travel and the “vacation culture” was born. Route 66 became an icon of opportunity, adventure, and exploration.
The Painted Desert’s colourful landscape was a beacon along Route 66 – demanding a stop to appreciate the views and snap a few photos. The stretch running through the park was open from 1926 until 1958. Driving this road was the way millions of early tourists experienced Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. Many stopped for a sundae or stayed overnight in the Painted Desert Inn.
Traces of the old roadbed and weathered telephone poles mark the path of the infamous Mother Road today. There’s a small pullout just north of the Interstate 40 overpass that allows you to soak it all in.
Hiking adventure in the Painted Desert
The next day – photocopied “picture” route map in hand, we set out to hike the Wilderness Loop in the northern part of the Painted Desert. It’s a 7-mile (11.3 km) hike. Rather, it should be a 7-mile hike, but while we were able to follow the route easily for the first section, it became a back-and-forth search and then just a random walk on our own at the end – which was okay!
There are several off-the-beaten path routes in the Painted Desert that require route-finding skills. The Rainbow Forest Visitor Center has guides for Onyx Bridge, Wilderness Loop, and Deadwash Overlook.
We chose the wilderness loop – longest of the bunch – and enjoyed the challenge of the adventure, even if we didn’t follow it exactly. Our route starting and ending at the Painted Desert Inn took us steeply down past Herbert Lore’s stone bridge to Lithodrendron Wash, past the Flatiron petroglyph panel, on to Angel’s Garden, deep into the badlands of the Painted Desert before heading back past Onyx Bridge.
Not another soul to be seen – exactly what we were hoping for!
Is it worth going to Petrified Forest National Park?
I think so – and so do the hundreds of thousands of other visitors who make the journey to this remote park every year.
Whether you’re an RV traveler looking for a unique road trip, an active traveler seeking a hike in the wilderness areas of the Painted Desert, a history buff with a fascination for Ancestral Puebloan culture, or – like us – all the above, Petrified Forest National Park delivers adventures worth seeking out.
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When you go
Before you head out for RV adventures in Petrified Forest National Park, check out the park map in this Petrified Forest National Park trip planner document to help orient yourself.
Eastbound Interstate 40 travelers should take Exit 285 into Holbrook and then travel 19 miles (30.5 km) on Highway 180 South to the park’s south entrance. You can drive the 28 miles (45 km) north through the park to return to Interstate 40.
Westbound Interstate 40 travelers should take Exit 311 and travel through the park to Highway 180 North for the opposite journey back to Interstate 40.
For full-service camping, Holbrook/Petrified Forest KOA (Ph: 928-524-6689) is less than 20 minutes from the park at 102 Hermosa Drive, Holbrook, Arizona. OK RV Park at 1576 Roadrunner Road, Holbrook (Ph: 928-524-3225) is another nearby option for camping with full services.
Keep track of all the details for your RV adventures using this Snowbird RV Trip Planner.
Just LOVED this post Megan. Such great info on this obviously unique area. We will plan to check it out this year!!!! Thanks so much.!
Thx Mel! Be sure to leave a comment sharing your adventures after you’ve been to explore this gem of a national park!