May 21 Raising Arizona

 May 21.  135 miles  Gallop,NM to Holbrook,AZ   Staying at the historic and iconic Wigwam Motel

Driving wasn't very exciting today.  Just a few sections of old Route 66 to follow. Most is either unusable due to lack of maintenance, on private property, or buried under the current I-40.  Big Tex at John's Used Cars leaving Gallup was our giant for the day.   Cool dreary rainy start to things.  Forecast called for clearing by mid-day but winds picking up 20-30 mph with stronger gusts.   Forecast was accurate we had crazy winds all day.

Big Tex

  We made decent time to our one location of interest today - the Petrified Forest National Park.  The petrified forest is actually contained in a much bigger feature called the Painted Desert.  While the park includes over 200,000 acres (about 346 sq miles), it's just a small part of the painted desert geologic formation which stretches 120 miles long and 60 miles wide.  The $25 per car fee to enter is well worth it.  There is a 26 mile road that runs north to south  down the park.  We started at the north entrance which contains mostly painted desert.    That refers to the cliffs with their varied colored sections.  Parts of the park have cliffs heavy with tan, pink and red layers which contain higher amounts of iron. The Blue Mesa section contains less iron so has more white, gray, and  blue hues. 

Can you find the 2 hikers in the valley?

Northern part of painted desert  with higher iron and "red" coloring - about 200 million years old

Heading a  little further south to the Blue Mesa

The Teepees - this area dates back about 225 million years

White line is from a period of volcanic ash

The Blue Mesa

 Back to geology lessons - this area was created some 200+ million years ago when all the continents were still joined together and this site was located about where Costa Rica is today.  It was tropical and wet.   Per Wikipedia;

"downed trees accumulating in river channels in what became the park were buried periodically by sediment containing volcanic ash. Groundwater dissolved silica (silicon dioxide) from the ash and carried it into the logs, where it formed quartz crystals that gradually replaced the organic matter. Traces of iron oxide and other substances combined with the silica to create varied colors in the petrified wood."  

There are numerous places in the park with petrified forest separated by areas without any. Possibly a function of multiple rivers or a single one that altered course.  In either case, this is still the worlds largest petrified forest.  Some of the pieces are quite colorful, others look almost like they're still wood. 

That's "Big Old John" behind me.

Old Route 66 used to cross through the middle of the park.  It's marked now by an old Studebaker and the telephone poles that still run through the area.

There were earlier inhabitants in the park area dating back over 2000 years.  The remains of a decent sized pueblo of over 100 rooms is visible and has been the site of several archeological surveys.   We see what remains of the last group that lived here until about 1400.   Petroglyphics are carved into many of the rocks in the surrounding areas. They've never been fully understood.  Possibly art, possible graffiti, possibly just a story, possibly the tribes history.  We may never really know. 

Archeologists have reconstructed this Pueblo foundation

After spending most of the day at the park it was time to head to Holbrook for the night.   Had our first prairie dog sighting along the road as we were leaving, then had our first tumbleweed cross our path, and finally passed through a minor dust storm being kicked up by the winds before reaching  the warmth of our wigwam. 

The Wigwam Hotel was part of a chain that included 7 locations at it's height.  Only 3 still exist - this one, another in Kentucky,  and one in California. They all are family owned and have been renovated to retain their original character.   Pretty small hotels as they typically only had 12-15 teepees.