PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK OFFERS COOL EXPERIENCES IN WINTER
With Fewer Visitors, Wintertime Travelers Call Petrified Forest Their Personal National Park
Not everyone gets to experience a national park in private, but that's what wintertime visitors to Petrified Forest National Park often enjoy. Comprising 93,533 acres, this northeastern Arizona park is known for its world-class display of petrified wood, ancient fossils and dramatic Painted Desert badlands. The park is best explored on foot, but a 28-mile road loops through the park and offers visitors a variety of overlooks and an introduction to the park.
Visitor Experience Today
Wintertime adventures in Petrified Forest National Park are particularly spectacular. Brief snowstorms occur throughout the winter, but the snow is rarely deep. Most winter days feature moderate, pleasant afternoon temperatures and subfreezing temperatures at night.
"There is nothing quite so memorable as visiting the park early on a clear winter day and seeing Blue Mesa with a dusting of snow," said Jerry Schadt, general manager of concessioner Xanterra Parks & Resorts' gift shop and foodservice facilities. "Visitors regularly remark how wonderful it is to experience a multi-dimensional park like Petrified Forest without the throng of crowds associated with so many other parks."
Residents of nearby communities often take day trips to the park, said Schadt. "Frankly, with Interstate 40 and our western speed limits, it doesn't take that long to get here," he said. "People from nearby communities such as Holbrook, Gallup, Albuquerque or Flagstaff love to come here when they have friends visiting from out of town."
Like many national parks in the Southwest, Petrified Forest National Park has experienced sharp decreases in visitation over the past few years, and almost half of the park's annual visitors enter the park during the months of June, July and August. That's good news for visitors during winter months. Daily ranger programs examine how the giant trees in the park turned to stone, explore the architectural and historical significance of the Painted Desert Inn and explore the early Puebloan Indian culture that lived along the Puerco River. Visitors of all abilities can also easily see the park on their own by taking a backcountry hike or visiting the park's many overlooks and trails.
"At Petrified Forest, you can wander a short distance from the visitor center and find yourself seemingly all alone, engulfed by the vastness of the park," said Schadt, a long-time resident of the area.
Visitor Experience Then
The area that is now Petrified Forest has been host to wide-ranging life-forms for more than 225 million years. What is now high, dry tableland was once a floodplain crossed by streams. During the late Triassic Period, large reptiles and amphibians and small dinosaurs shared the land with ferns and other plants and animals that are studied as fossils today. Tall trees eventually fell and were washed by the streams into the floodplain. Silt, mud and volcanic ash covered the logs, cutting off oxygen and slowing the logs' decay. Silica-bearing groundwaters seeped through the logs and over time replaced the wood tissues with silica deposits. The silica crystallized into quartz and the logs were preserved as petrified wood.
The area was explored by U.S. Army mappers in the mid-1800s, prompted by stories of a remarkable "Painted Desert and its trees turned to stone." The park was named Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906 when forward-thinking residents watched in dismay as visitors carried literally boxcar-loads of petrified wood from the area. Realizing the supply of petrified wood was not endless, residents were determined to protect the resource. The area achieved its national park designation in 1962.
Adjacent to the park visitor center is the Xanterra Parks & Resorts gift shop and foodservice facility, called "Harvey's Diner" after Fred Harvey, the celebrated restaurateur who brought gracious hospitality to the Southwest in the late 1800s. Harvey's Diner serves full diner-type meals as well as snacks and ice cream. The gift shop, called the Fred Harvey Trading Company, features art created by local craftspeople as well as traditional mementos such as T-shirts, mugs and posters.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts operates lodges, restaurants and other concessions at national parks and state parks and resorts. Xanterra is the country's largest national park concessioner. The company operates concessions in the following locations: Yellowstone National Park, the North and South Rims of Grand Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Death Valley National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Everglades National Park, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial; and at resorts in Napa, Calif.; Saratoga Springs, N.Y. and seven Ohio State Parks.
Long committed to the preservation and protection of the environment, Ecologix, Xanterra's environmental program, includes a variety of proactive environmental stewardship programs in each location. Xanterra was the recipient of Environmental Achievement Awards from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 and from the Department of Interior in 2001 and 2002. Xanterra also received the Travel Industry Association's Odyssey Award for its environmental initiatives in 2001.
For more information about Xanterra and links to individual properties, visit: www.xanterra.com. For reservations and more information about Grand Canyon, Bryce or Zion, call (1) 303-297-2757 or toll-free at (1) 888-297-2757. For reservations and more information about Yellowstone, call (1) 307-344-7311. For reservations and more information about Flamingo Lodge in Everglades National Park, call (1) 800-600-3813 or (1) 239-695-3101. For reservations at Crater Lake Lodge, call (1) 541-830-8700. For reservations and more information about Ohio State Park Resorts, call (1) 800-282-7275.
