Painted Desert Family Adventure Guide

Ready to explore colorful striated hills that pop out of the countryside like mounds of Neapolitan ice cream? Join us on our family adventure in the Painted Desert portion of the Petrified Forest National Park!

After leaving the Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, we continued along I-40 towards the northern entrance of the Petrified Forest National Park.

What is the Painted Desert?

The actual Painted Desert extends over 150 miles from the eastern end of the Grand Canyon into the Petrified Forest National Park. Much of the Painted Desert is located in remote areas in the Navajo Nation. However, you can explore a portion of it in the northern part of the Petrified Forest National Park.

Our Family Adventure in the Painted Desert

As we neared the National Park entrance, lots of little stores selling petrified wood started popping up along the roadside. We stopped at the Visitor Center at the north entrance to pick up a map and check the park's weather conditions (a must when visiting any National Park, especially if you plan to do any hiking).

The Painted Desert / Petrified Forest is home to a team of paleontologists that prepare fossils discovered in the National Park. We attended a demonstration and learned how fossils are extracted little-by-little from the larger jackets. The girls earned both their Petrified Forest and their Jr. Paleontology Junior Ranger Badges during our visit.

Then we were off! The Main Park Road connects the northern entrance of the park to the southern entrance. You can stop at the various overlooks and pull offs to explore the different park areas. I am a huge fan of audio guides when we drive through an area. For the Painted Desert / Petrified Forest, we enjoyed the Shaka Audio Guide.

The Overlooks & Painted Desert Inn

The drive starts with a loop through the Painted Desert overlooks. These initial views set the tone for the increasingly amazing views of the Painted Desert!

The striated colors on the mesas and buttes were made 200-300 million years ago in a shallow sea by iron and manganese (which can oxidize into a red color). When the water table was high, there was less oxygen in the ground, so it turned the deposits into a blue or green color. When the water table was low, there was more oxygen in the ground, so it turned the deposits into a red, orange, yellow or pink color. You are immediately awestruck by the colors you see from the overlooks, and as hard as it to imagine, the colors become even more amazing as you continue along the drive!

Historic Route 66

After leaving the overlooks, you cross a segment of the Historic Route 66. This segment is no longer in use, but this is a great spot to take some fun photos with the old Studebaker that marks the location.

Newspaper Rock

Continuing south, we visited Newspaper Rock (which is actually multiple rockfaces within a small area). Here there are over 650 petroglyphs made by the ancestral Puebloan people that lived, farmed and hunted along the river between 650 and 2000 years ago.

The Tepees

Continuing south, we passed through the Tepees. The Tepees gain their name from their cone-like shape and similarity to Indian dwellings (even though actual tepees were not used in Arizona). They have thick deposits of grey, blue, purple, and green mudstone and white minor sandstone beds. The bluish tones make you feel like you are driving on another planet.

Blue Mesa

My most favorite part of the Painted Desert, we the hike around the Blue Mesa Trail. It is an easy 1 mile paved trail, however, there is a steep descent / climb back up at the trailhead. That said, you don't want to miss this!! The mesas have beautiful blue, purple, gray, and peach colored striations with scattered petrified wood making an emergence. The trail was amazing! As you descend the paved trail, you feel like you are entering another world. I could have spent hours photographing all the different colors!

Around the Blue Mesa Trail, you start to see petrified wood from the Petrified Forest part of the National Park. More on this to come in our next blog post!

Visitor Information

Address: Interstate 40, Exit 311, Petrified Forest 86028

Hours: 8 am - 5 pm (but can vary by season)

Cost: National Park entrance pass required (included in your America The Beautiful annual pass)

Tour Time: Varies greatly! We spent 4-5 hours in both the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest areas, but could have longer if we stopped at everything and hiked more. You could also just drive through in about an hour.

Disclaimer: Always make sure to check out the latest information from the park website before you arrive.

The Family Verdict

We were driving to the Grand Canyon National Park after our visit, so our time was limited. I had reviewed the park map before our visit and determined what areas our crazy crew would enjoy the most, but there are plenty of other areas in the Painted Desert section of the park that you can enjoy.

Overall, the Painted Desert is an amazing wonderland of beautiful colors with lots of off-road trails to explore! Definitely one of the most under-rated National Parks!!

If you loved this family adventure guide, check out my review of nearby Meteor Crater Natural Landmark and follow along on our road trip through the American Southwest!

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