15 ABSOLUTE Best Hikes in Petrified Forest National Park for 2022

Post Summary: Best Hikes in Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park is located in Arizona and covers an area of 346 square miles (900 km²). As the name suggests the National Park is most famous for its petrified wood which can be found all throughout the park. This wood is essentially fossilized remains of trees dating back to 200 million years ago, that went through just the right conditions to become petrified. If the trees fell into the river during that time, it’s very often that they would get saturated with water containing lots of minerals. These minerals would slowly form quartz crystals to replace the organic matter, leading them to be fossilized.

Although the Petrified Forest may not be as popular as other National Parks in the United States, it still attracts around 800,000 visitors per year. It is a much smaller park than some of the big hitters but that means it also takes a lot less time to explore. This