Day 17 - Canyon de Chelly - Petrified Forest / Painted Desert

I went south and a little west to visit the Petrified Forest Nat. Park which straddles the Hwy.40 in Arizona near the eastern border. 
A few pictures of the Painted Desert.

This is a old tavern / rest stop that dates back to the 40`s and is now preserved as it was inside.  It is also used as a visitor`s center.  Perfect type of a structure for the area.

More petroglyphs on the dark side of this large chunk of rock - there are supposed to be about 300 petroglyphs on the one rock - of course you are not allowed to get very close to it.  You know some idiot would want to add their own "art" to the rock.

One last picture of the Painted Desert area.

One of many petrified logs that date from 200 million years ago in the Triassic Period when this part of the earth was a tropical forest.  The logs were buried in clay & sand after they fell.  The minerals replaced the wood cells and how they were petrified. 

Here is a whole log that has been supported by a concrete beam (many years ago) that spans a small runoff ditch.

A close up of a section of petrified log with a rainbow of colored minerals that replaced the wood cells.  This one is about a foot in diameter.

They look like some sort of jewel with all of the colors.

I thought this one was interesting since it shows the split in the center of the log that happened before it was petrified.

This plaque is at the southern entrance to the park and talks about Stephen Mather who it says" layed the foundation of the National Park Service, established the policies that formed the service"

The End