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Near Flagstaff, Arizona

Redlands Daily Facts – Travel
The rock era
Petrified forest, limestone dwellings offer hard evidence of the way things were hundreds – and hundreds of millions of years ago
By Story and photos by Eric Noland, Travel Editor

Petrified Forest National Park is one of several fascinating preserves in a little-visited expanse of Arizona. Also here are the precisely striped clay hills of the Painted Desert, as well as 800-year-old remnants of ancient villages – pueblos, cliff dwellings, even masonry homes made of hunks of petrified wood.

Protected as national parks and monuments, the sites are convenient to Interstate 40 east of Flagstaff and to U.S. 89 to the north.

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK: There is an entrance to the northern reaches of the park from Interstate 40, but eastbound travelers might want to consider getting off I-40 in Holbrook and taking Highways 77 and 180 about 20 miles to the park’s southern entrance. Then you can conclude your visit with an easy hop onto the interstate. Currently the park is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., but at the end of this month its hours will shorten to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Entry fee is $10 per private vehicle, good for seven days. www.nps.gov/pefo; (928) 524-6228.

WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT: A little over seven miles east of Flagstaff on I-40, get off at Exit 204 and drive south three miles. Currently it is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the park maintains shorter hours in December and January and is open longer during the summer. Entry fee is $5 per adult (age 17 and up), good for seven days. www.nps.gov/waca; (928) 526-3367.

WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT: Take Highway 89 for 31 miles north of Flagstaff, then head east on the park road for 14 miles to the monument. (Wupatki can also be reached on Loop Road through its sister national monument to the south, Sunset Crater Volcano.) Currently it is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the park maintains shorter hours in December and January and is open longer during the summer. Entry fee is $5 per adult (age 17 and up), good for seven days; this fee also permits entry to Sunset Crater Volcano. www.nps.gov/wupa; (928) 679-2365.