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Have you visited another planet before? We haven’t but these Petrified Forest National Park hikes sure made it feel like it!
The park itself is not hugely popular, which is wonderful for feeling like you have it all to yourself. The landscapes are truly otherworldly and are great for exploring. Plus, since these hikes are all relatively short, these Petrified Forest National Park activities are great even if you’re just driving through for a few hours.
There are lots more things to do in Petrified Forest National Park, but these 5 hikes are some of our favorites and will give you a great overview of the different wonders of the park!
This post on visiting Petrified Forest National Park with kids contains affiliate links, but all opinions are 100% my own. That means I earn a small commission if you purchase through my link, but doesn’t change your price.
Petrified wood comes from trees that were fossilized millions of years ago. The organic material in the wood was replaced with silica that hardened and crystallized. Now, the trees cannot rot, and are preserved! Different minerals make the wood different colors, and you can see it amongst the rings that are still visible in the wood.
In short, YES! This is, in my mind, a hidden gem of a park. It’s small and doesn’t have huge visitation, so it never feels very crowded. There are also plenty of open spaces to explore and climb for kids. Some parks can’t really allow kids to climb on trees and structures, but the petrified wood is heavy and solid and it’s fine for little ones to play on it. It’s like a giant natural playground!
Plus the badlands and mesas are beautiful and perfect for hiking and climbing. Kids love going up and down the conical hills! And everyone will love the views of the Painted Desert.
Petrified Forest National Park is 28 miles from one entrance to the other. There is no public transportation within the park, so it is best to have your own vehicle. Here are distances from some close by cities:
Petrified Forest has a number of activities for any season! The winter is generally fairly mild. Winter, spring, and fall are all wonderful for Petrified Forest National Park hikes. The spring has wildflowers, as well! Occasional snow in the winter is also really beautiful. Summer tends to be busier, but since it’s a pretty quiet park overall, you can’t go wrong.
There are no overnight facilities inside the park, and it closes at night. You can check the current schedule here. Because of this, there are only a few overnight backpacking permits and others will need to stay outside the park. We stayed here in our RV just outside the south entrance. This KOA and OK RV Park are other great options for camping.
If you’d prefer to stay in a hotel or apartment, here are some great options!
The Anasazi, Mogollan, and Hohokam all were stewards of this area and ancestors to modern tribes such as the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo. The Ancestral Puebloans have some ruins throughout park areas. To learn more about the modern tribes and to financially support these groups that had land forcibly taken from them, you can visit them at their websites: Navajo, Hopi, Zuni.
The petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock were created between 650-2000 years ago by ancestral Puebloan people who lived, farmed, and hunted along the Puerco River. Because there are so many, this was likely a very significant place to ancient peoples. The peoples in the time periods from 650-1200 years ago were more fixed to the area and created pit houses, ceramics, basketry, and other artifacts indicative of stability. Petrified wood became a common building material, such as with the “agate houses.”
There was likely a large drought that had peoples move close by but not totally abandon the area of Petrified Forest.
Here is more information on prehistoric peoples in the area!
We always love learning a bit about the places we visit, as well. Here are some good books to learn about the people and landscape near Petrified Forest!
Especially since it’s a very dry area, it’s important to be prepared with light layers, food, and especially water. Here are some essentials that we really love and found super useful when hiking in Petrified Forest.
Distance: 3 miles out and back
This is for sure the best hike in Petrified Forest National Park. I was a bit nervous since it’s technically a backcountry trail, but it was well marked and didn’t feel scary in terms of getting lost.
This trail was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and connects the main park road to the popular Blue Mesa Loop. While the Blue Mesa Loop is stunning, this has some similar scenery but was totally deserted. When we visited, the Blue Mesa Loop had 5-10 groups at each pullout, and about the same number actually walking the loop. We didn’t see a single other soul on the Blue Forest Trail, however!
The trail follows the edge of several badlands ridges. We didn’t go all the way to the Blue Mesa Loop with kids since the last 1/3 of it or so before the end gets very narrow and steep. Since had a toddler and baby with us, we didn’t feel comfortable going all the way. Still, the views from where we were looked substantially similar since we were already at the top of the ridges, so we felt like we got a great sense of the views up there (which were spectacular!).
The kids loved climbing around the Badlands areas and finding pieces of petrified wood up there, too.
There’s a pull out on the side of the main park road by the Teepees section of the park, just north of the turn to the Blue Mesa Road.
Distance: 1 mile loop
This is one of the most popular Petrified Forest National Park hikes, and for good reason. It’s beautiful! The trail starts at a small parking area and goes down to the base of the big pyramids. From there, it weaves through in a loop before returning you to your starting point. You’ll get stunning badlands views and get a perfect view of the striated coloration.
The views from the Blue Mesa Loop and the Blue Forest Trail are substantially similar, though the latter will get you up higher in the pyramids themselves. I would choose one or the other, and would personally pick the Blue Forest Trail if I had to pick and had time for the 3-mile distance. It’s more varied and interesting, and far less crowded. Still, if you’re shorter on time, the Blue Mesa Loop is also gorgeous!
Distance: 0.75 miles loop
If you’re interested in seeing the park’s namesake natural wonder (petrified wood), this is the place to do it. A short, paved path will take you through tons of petrified wood logs, deposits, and crystals. It’s stunning to see and fascinating to think about an ancient forest there long ago.
Distance: 0.4 miles
This hardly counts as a trail, but it’s fun to see the absolutely enormous logs present here by the Rainbow Forest Museum. It will likely be crowded, but it’s worth a stop!
Distance: 1 mile
Finally, this short trail is one of the best areas to see the stunning painted desert. We love going here late in the day just before sunset as the golden sunshine lights up the reds and oranges in the rock. It goes from Tawa Point to Kachina Point and has views the entire way. If you’re short on time, you can simply drive between the two viewpoints and stop at both lookout points.
There are a number of stunning viewpoints in Petrified Forest National Park. Here are the ones I think you shouldn’t miss!
You’ll find absolutely stunning views of the Painted Desert in the northern half of the park here.
Over 650 petroglyphs are visible from this point. They’re a bit far, though, so I recommend bringing a pair of binoculars if possible.
Even if you don’t have time to hike the Blue Mesa Trail, the loop road is short and very worthwhile. I love the views just past the parking area for the trail and looking back at the blue & white pyramids.
I would recommend one full day at the park so you can fit in a couple of great Petrified Forest National Park hikes, but you can also get a great overview of the park in only a few hours. Here is what I recommend!
