Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park

What a fascinating place! The log I'm leaning against is petrified wood. It's Rock!!! I think we may have to take some classes to get updated on the geology and geography of this part of our great country. It seems that some 225 million years ago, this area was about where present day Peru resides and was a vast flood plain. The trees fell (or were knocked over by dinosaurs) and were covered by water. A mix of mud, silt and volcanic ash buried the logs thus cutting off the oxygen and delaying the decay of the logs. Silica laden ground water seeped through the logs replacing the original wood with silica deposits. The silica crystallised into quartz and the logs were preserved as petrified wood. In the ensuing 225 million years, thanks to continental drift, the petrified logs ended up near present day Holbrook, AZ. Petrified Forrest National Park is a must see for those visiting this area.

Another part of this park is the beautiful Painted Desert. In many ways, it reminds us of the bad lands of South Dakota. The weather today was very windy, so much so that the Ravens had a difficult time flying. We saw one that had a crash when trying to land. I've included a couple of photo's with this post. Lots more photo's are included in our photo album of the park.