Desert Hiking – Intro & Petrified Forest NP

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Desert Hiking Introduction

One of the most spectacular hikes in America is in Coyote Buttes North, a portion of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument on the border of Utah and Arizona. The hike leads to the justly famous rock formation called “The Wave”.  The Wave formation is heavily protected by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and so a permit is required. In order to get a permit to do this hike, people must enter a lottery via the National Parks Service.  Most people wait a very long time before “winning” the lottery…years, even. I submitted my online application for a permit in the spring of 2023 (people are allowed to enter 3 different dates per application). About 2 weeks later I received an email informing me that I had won a permit for August 24th! This date happens to be Emilie’s birthday.  We have no idea what we did to win this permit on our first try.  We assume it may have had something to do with the fact that the dates we submitted were for the hottest month of the year in Cayote Buttes, when temps can reach into the 100s.  Anyway, off we go.

We decided to drive so we could carry as much stuff as we wanted.  It also seemed silly to fly to Utah and rent a car to do just a one-day hike.  We decided to make this into a Rt. 66 road trip.  We would pick up Rt. 66 in Illinois and take it all the way to near Flagstaff, Arizona, then head up to Vermilion Cliffs, the Grand Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend.

There is a blog entry for the actual Rt. 66 portion of this road trip.  This entry focuses on the adventures we had hiking the Wave, the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, car-camping and hiking along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and viewing Horseshoe Bend .

Petrified Forest National Park

August 21

We spent the night at the historic Hotel El Rancho in Gallup, NM along Rt 66.  We found this retro hotel via the Roadside Attractions App.

This fabulous throwback hotel is on a busy corner of town, and many locals come for the restaurant and bar.  Stars of old-time western movies stayed here while shooting nearby.  The very cozy rooms are named for those famous, and not so famous movie stars. The lobby and elevator are classic, as is the rickety shared second floor balcony overlooking the neon sign and street below. Its casual restaurant was excellent.

Everything about this motel appears original 1950s, but it is very well maintained and professionally run.  We ended up staying here on the way home, too, because we loved it so much.

August 22

We drove about 1.5 hours to Petrified Forest National Park in Holbrook, Arizona.  We also planned a trail hike along a section of the Painted Desert National Monument here.

Half way there, however, we stopped to see a Roadside Attraction. In Houck, Arizona there stands the remnants of once unthriving “Fort Courage”, an F-Troop themed souvenir store.  Being huge fans of the old T.V. show we just had to take the short detour to see it.  It was for sale, too! So tempting.

The Painted Desert

We got to the Petrified Forest National Park around 9:30 a.m.  Because of the direction we came in, we did the Painted Desert section first.  The Painted Desert is basically the Badlands of the west, and it reaches from the Petrified Forest to the Grand Canyon. It is a truly awesome spectacle to see and hike. We hiked the easy but spectacular 1.2-mile Rim Trail. This is a great intro to the Painted Desert. Oh, and it was hot!

The Rim Trail leads to the Painted Desert Inn. The inn is no longer in operation, but the building, now a museum, is well maintained, has rest rooms, locals selling their crafts, and a park ranger. A very cool building with great history in this isolated landscape.

Blue Mesa Loop Trail

Next, we drove a few miles to the Blue Mesa Loop trail. Along the way, we stopped at a viewpoint to gander at some pretty cool petroglyphs.

There was petrified wood on the Blue Mesa Loop trail, but the main draw along this 1-mile trail is the jaw-dropping beauty of the blue hewed badlands. There was a lightening storm off in the distance so we had to stay aware of the direction it was heading, as there is no cover along the Blue Mesa landscape. Intimidating as the sky was, it also presented a remarkable ambiance. The middle of August is apparently a good time to hike in the desert….there were hardly any other people anywhere.  Good thing, too…I didn’t want anybody to see me in my geeky sun hat.

Crystal Forest Trail

The final hike in Petrified Forest was the Crystal Forest trail.  Here is where one goes to get his fill of petrified wood.  There are many examples of it everywhere along this easy 1-mile hike. It’s called the Crystal Forest due to the crystals embedded in the petrified wood logs. This was my first encounter with petrified wood and I was totally blown away by how it looks and feels like rock. Also, I think this was my final public appearance in this hat!

Four hours was perfect for doing Petrified Forest National Park/Painted Desert.  By about 2:00 p.m. we began our way to Kanab, Utah about 5 hours away, and our base for doing The Wave. We booked the La Quinta Inn and Suites downtown Kanab.

The scenery along the way was gorgeous.

 

Next: Grand Staircase-Escalante – Toadstools Trail