Petrified Forest National Park

                                          petrified wood in Petrified Forest National Park

Our goal was to reach Mesa Verde National Park today. W e didn't make it. Not even close. We got sidetracked by the Petrified Forest National Park. According to the AAA Tour Book, it was located 19 miles before we would come to Holbrook, which was the next town down the road from where we were. When we reached there, however, there was no turnoff and no signs about the park. I stopped to talk to a three-person road crew working at the nearest turnoff. They said they were from Phoenix and didn't know any more about the park than we did, but they took out their maps and one worker took out his GPS and we located the park - on the other side of Holbrook. With that information in hand, we soon arrived at the park, and it turned out to be well worth the effort and the delay (after all, Mesa Verde will still be there whenever we arrive.)

We stopped off at the Visitors Center to watch a short film about the park and then drove the one road through the park, stopping at several sites for a closer look at various features.
 

 At the first stop we took a short walk through an area with many large logs of petrified wood - trees which were covered with sand and silt and silica shortly after they fell, so that they didn't have time to decay. Over time, the cells of cellulose of which the tree is composed were replaced, cell by cell, by silica and other minerals, so that eventually all of the wood was replaced by stone, often brightly colored, in the exact shape of the original tree.

Our next stop was at an area called the Crystal Forest. Elise remembered this area from our previous trip. Then it was covered with small pieces of petrified wood which sparkled in the sun; now there were still many large pieces of petrified wood, but most of the smaller pieces were gone - carried away by souvenir hunting tourists, who successfully ignored verbal and written pleas and threats from the park service not to degrade the quality of the park experience by taking away the very thing they came to see. The park ranger at the Visitors Center said that they do get a fair number of letters from people who have felt guilty enough about taking away their "souvenirs" that they have returned them with letters of apology, but this is not nearly enough to replace the large quantity of wood still taken every month by shortsighted tourists, even though they are subject to being searched and fined or even imprisoned if they are caught.


                                          petroglyphs  at Puerco Pueblo in Petrified Forest National Park


 In the 1200's and 1300's there had been small groups of American Indians living in the park area of our next stop, Puerco Pueblo. Some of the stones from the original buildings still remain, but even more interesting,wet we were able to see rock drawings (petroglyphs) which they carved on some rocks near their settlements.
From Chinde Point we could look down over the area called Painted Desert because of the mounds of multicolored stone and volcanic ash.
It took us most of the day to see it all, so we only got as far as Gallup on our way to Mesa Verde.

We did have just enough time before it got dark to go into Gallup and walk around the center of the city a bit. The most interesting thing we saw there was a children's library in a very attractive building well stocked with books, CD's and computers.I don't think I've ever seen a whole library just for children before. The sad part of this visit was a sign posted seeking adoptive or foster parents for 2500 children in New Mexico without families. I wonder how many children there are in Pennsylvania without families.

We also stopped at a supermarket to do a bit of food shopping. Outside was a sign which said, "No walkers sold alcohol." I asked the cashier what the sign meant, and it turned out that the sign meant just what it said: if you were on foot and not in a vehicle, you were not allowed to buy alcohol. Apparently there had been a problem with people buying liquor and then drinking it on the street.
"How can you tell if someone has a car or not?" I asked the cashier.
"The guards at the door are supposed to be checking that," was his answer, but I couldn't help but wonder how successful they actually were at enforcing this.

        Elise is feeling a lot better, but it is quite cold at night around here, so we spent another very comfortable night in a motel.