These just blow my mind, how living tissue — over the millennia — becomes rock.
We hiked the North Petrified Forest Trail, planning to go as far as the junction with the Maah Daah Hey Trail. Yeeaah. We hiked. And we hiked. It was supposed to be only 2.8 miles out (and 2.8 miles back). We hiked for ~2½ hours and didn’t reach the junction. Surely we were moving faster than 1 mph, even with the stops at the two prominent fields with petrified trees and the uphill climbs?
We encountered a hiker familiar with the trail and he said the junction was down the hill we were on and up the ridge on the other side of the canyon. We were tired and beginning to panic that we might have somehow lost our way, so we turned around and returned to the car. So we covered what the signs show to be less than 5.6 miles and it took us 3½ hours.
In the end, though, it was still a cool hike through meadows as well as down into canyons … and back up again.
Retired economics professor (“dismal scientist”). Married 40+ years to the love of my life; we have two grown daughters, both married, two granddaughters and a...
![“Gray Half-Spot” [Filler]](https://media.365project.org/1/9510135_chjkuwyz79_sq.jpg "“Gray Half-Spot” [Filler]")
![Atrium [Filler]](https://media.365project.org/1/9509519_aklmny0158_sq.jpg "Atrium [Filler]")
