Today we traveled through the Petrified Forest National Park. Starting at the northern entry point we stopped at the Painted Desert Visitor Center and watched a movie about the park.
We started out through the Painted Desert area of the park first.
The colors in these desert views are spectacular- there are pink/red areas and then blue/gray areas. The colors are due to the mineral content in the rocks of an area. It is hard to think that millions of years ago this desert was a floodplain covered with large conifer trees. The evidence is seeing the petrified trees that are scattered across this desert and logs in the rocks. These petrified trees differ in their coloring according to the minerals they have been in contact with as they became petrified. Evidence of human history is seen in the petroglyphs on the rocks at various locations as well as the ruins of dwellings.
In order for humans to have lived in this area, there had to have been a different environment than what is here today. This indeed is a desert- no water anywhere, the ground is dried and cracked, and the only wildlife we saw were ravens.
It was a beautiful day today. Lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 60's made being in this environment enjoyable. We ate our picnic lunch comfortably at a picnic area in the park.
We, along with Travis, took several walks on the trails in the park.
