Sunday, Mike and I decided to check out a relatively close national park. The
Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park is less than an hour east of Winslow. The park contains one of the largest collections of petrified wood on the planet. It's literally strewn all across the park and thanks to people in the 1930's with lots of forsight, it should be there for people to see for many years to come.The National Parks Service does a wonderful job of making the beauty of our country accessible. Lots of people have spent countless hours trying to figure out how to make it easy for folks to see some very interesting sights. Personally, I'm glad the parks are easily accessible. I do get annoyed occasionally when people (and their kids) have little respect for the parks, though. I've found that if you stay off the beaten trail, though, you're almost guarenteed to lose the masses AND find something spectacular.
For instance, less than a quarter mile of easy hiking/walking off the road in the Petrified Forest park yielded some spectacular views of nearly intact petrified logs. To the north, a moderate 1/2 mile hike into the painted desert gave us spectacular views from a perspective that very few folks have seen. I guess the point here is that the best things are rarely on the surface. Dig a little deeper on occasion and you may just be delighted!
Here are a few painted desert pics from the iPhone... not the best pictures or resolution, but they get the point across.
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