venturing4th: Petrified Forest National Park

We set out to explore the southern section of Petrified Forest National Park today through a series of short hikes and stops at various viewpoints and historic sites.

Long Logs & Agate House -

Near the southern entrance, this short hike took us on a trail...

logs lying partially exposed on the ground and...

eroding out of the ground.

Here we also saw logs that petrified with various minerals that created...

fossils of beautiful colors.

At the apex of the trail is Agate house...

a reconstructed seven room pueblo using these beautiful...

petrified logs.

We identified this pink stone as the material Maura would like her house built from.

Giant Logs Trail-

Right outside the Rainbow Forest Museum at the South Entrance is the Giant Logs Trail that had a blooming cholla at the beginning of the trail.

An almost pure white fossilized tree.

"Old Faithful," on the giant Logs Trail, is nearly 10-feet in diameter.

An overview on the Giant Logs Trail out into the badlands.

Martha's Butte -

This is an 'Off the Beaten Path Hike" that took us to a petroglyph site at the base of a feature called Martha's Butte. The origin of the name Martha's Butte, or who Martha was, is unknown.

It was another -"... this route is not a trail. Route finding skills will be used on this hike". Martha's Butte is the hill with the 'crown' on top. The smaller hill to the left has a large petrified log embedded in the clay hill.

It was long thought to be a petrified stump still in place but was excavated by park naturalist Myrl Walker and some CCC "boys" in 1936 and was found that it is actually a log portion at a steep angle. This log section is now known as "Walker's Stump."

Martha's Butte with petroglyphs on the rocks around the base.

The two hills together.

Through this split rock, the sun, at the summer solstice, shines on a petroglyph of the sun - concentric circles, located on one of the rocks at the base of the butte.

Agate Bridge -

A 110-foot petrified log spanning a gully. Unlike Onyx Bridge that we saw yesterday, this feature requires support.

Blue Mesa -

The real surprise of the day was the short hike through Blue Mesa.

A overlook with a balanced log at the edge of Blue Mesa.

Blue Mesa

Mesa arroyos

Mesa Hoodoos

A steep path enters into vibrant blue, purple, and gray badlands dotted with colorful petrified wood.

Looks like powdered sugar.

Petrified log on an eroded "mushroom" pedestal.

Beautiful colors.

The Tepees -

Canyon wall with a red stripe on the road to the Tepees.

The Tepees.

Newspaper Rock -

See the right-angled rock at the center of the picture?

Using the telephoto lens we could get a picture of the hundreds of petroglyphs etched into the rock.

This right-angled rock, just to the left of the one above, had...

these petroglyphs.

Puerco Pueblo -

The remains of a 100-room settlement of the Ancestral Puebloan people, abandoned in the 14th century.

Small flower along the path to the ruins.

Another solstice marker. On the solstice, the sun shines through the split rock in the upper left-hand corner of the picture above onto the sun petroglyph on the rock to the right.

Close-up of the sun petroglyph.

More petroglyphs at the Puerco Pueblo.

The round-faced figures above are thought to be Kachinas.

Painted Desert Inn -

We returned to the Painted Desert Inn Museum where our hike of yesterday began. We came back to the Inn, built on historic and legendary Route 66, was once home to the famed "Harvey Girls". It features historic murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.