GETTING THERE
We drove to Petrified Forest National Park en route to Homolovi Springs State Park. We left Tucson and made the 5 hour drive to the northeast corner of the state. The drive was beautiful except for the 20 or 30 minutes of pure terror as we descended Salt River Canyon.
This was the only route here and we held our breath and didn’t speak a word to each other during the 8% descent with hairpin switchbacks. By the time we had finished the hard part, Shane pointed out the smell of burning rubber… FUN.
We chugged on.
Petrified Forest National Park
Once we arrived to the park’s south entrance, we stopped at the Visitor Center. I had read the Petrified Forest allows dogs, which is rare among National Parks. I registered Kahlua with the Bark Ranger program where they gave him a certificate and dog treats. Shane insisted we buy him the Bark Ranger tag for his collar and I must admit, it’s dang cute.
The program is designed to help promote dogs in more national parks because if owners are responsible (cleaning up after them, ensuring they stay on trails, etc) then maybe more national parks would be receptive to dogs.
I love this initiative because it has been difficult to visit national parks with a dog in tow. We always have to make sure our accommodations have electricity so we can leave the A/C on in the trailer and then try to efficiently hike the park so we can get back. Before Kahlua, we probably would have spent the entire day hiking but now we’re more conscious of the time we’re away from the house.
Of course on the day that we drove here there were wind gusts of up to 55 mph wind advisories. It made driving so difficult as the trailer swayed back and forth. Once we got to the park, even opening our car door required immense effort and you should have seen Kahlua trying to walk in heavy winds…
We intended to drive the entire 28-mile scenic drive but at the north portion of the park, the only way to drive to the State Park is on I-40 so we chose to drive half of the scenic drive to Blue Mesa loop drive and then turn back around and head on the non-interstate route to Homolovi State Park. Interstate driving and high wind speeds make trailer driving extremely challenging. We did enjoy the Giant Logs trail too, which was an up-close experience of the largest petrified logs in the park.
The overlooks in the park were beautiful and we learned so much about the history of the area. Scientists have identified several hundred species of fossil plants and animals in Petrified Forest. There is certainly a pre-historic feeling as you drive in the park. Informational pamphlets we received at the Visitor Center told us that this dry land used to be rainforest. This fact blew our minds because when we think of Arizona, we don’t think of rainforests at all! Read more about it on National Geographic’s “A Guide to Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park”.
WHERE TO STAY
There aren’t accommodations in or near the park. We opted to drive an hour east in order to make the next day’s drive a bit short. I had read great things about Homolovi State Park so that’s where we headed! It is about a one-hour drive on I-40 from Petrified Forest National Park.
Homolovi State Park was very cool itself. We got a site along the edge so our only view was sand dunes. The park is special because the Hopi people still consider Homolovi to be part of their homeland.
There isn’t much in the local area but it made for a great highway stop on our way to our next adventure: Sedona!
Note: If we had the time, I would have loved to continue north and hike the Painted Desert Rim Trail so you should add that to your itinerary if you go!