Petrified Forest

As we continued our drive through Petrified Forest National Park, the landscape continued to change. We next entered an area that reminded us of the Badlands in South Dakota. It delighted us to realize that the terrain was called the Badlands of Arizona. I loved the beautiful purple layers in the mounds of earth.

We took a side road that took us through beautiful rock formations as we worked our way uphill. We came to an overlook. I didn’t realize until I was back in the car that I was looking at petrified wood. Interestingly, one log had been up on top of the hill until a few years ago when erosion caused it to fall and break into pieces. The more I looked, the more petrified wood I could see.

We stopped in several spots with lovely views of the colorful mounds of earth and the desert beyond. A trail wound through the earthen mounds and petrified wood, but we weren’t up for the hike at the time.

I enjoyed seeing the Agate Bridge, a 110-foot tall petrified tree creating a bridge across a wash. The dead tree ended up in the river, where it turned to quartz. Eventually, erosion exposed the fossilized tree. In 1917, they shored up the petrified tree with a concrete block to prevent it from breaking apart as water continually erodes the gully underneath. I would have liked to take more photos, but suddenly, several carloads of people swarmed the area, so we moved on.

Our final stop of the day was Jasper Forest. It was incredible there was so much petrified wood in one clearing. There was a photo posted from the 1930s of the same area. It was amazing that the site looks almost exactly like it did then.

Concho

Having eaten nothing more than a Larabar for the day, we were getting hungry. We decided to find food and return to the park the next day.
There weren’t many food options in the area, so we drove to the nearby town of Concho, where we enjoyed lunch from Ray’s BBQ Shack. On the way, we spotted our first roadrunner. He darted across the road, right in front of us.

We found a BLM campground just down the road. At first, it looked like a promising spot. It was on a beautiful lake and even had portable toilets available. As we looked around, though, we started to feel uncomfortable by what we saw at some of the campsites and decided not to stay.

Before we left, we went down to the lake to photograph some of the many birds we saw. I was particularly interested in a blue heron I saw. I took a few pictures and then attempted to get a little closer. The heron flew away, but as I followed him with the camera, a beautiful eagle crossed his path. It tickled me to catch the eagle in mid-flight. The photo was not the best because he was so far away, but I was happy to get the shot.

We first attempted to camp at the souvenir shop just outside of the park but then realized that they do not allow converted campers like ours. We found another somewhat nearby truck stop that allows overnight camping. The best part was a Burger King inside to grab a quick breakfast in the morning.

Crystal Forest

We returned to Petrified Forest National Park early in the morning. We wanted to take the short hike through Crystal Forest. We had driven by it the day before to see the trail was full of people. We hoped that by going early, we would be able to avoid the crowd. Our plan worked out.

We took our time wandering through the petrified wood, enjoying the exquisite pieces. There were long, intact, petrified trees lying next to the path. At one point, we found a tiny specimen of gorgeous, perfect, petrified wood. I overcame the temptation to take it with us, leaving it where it lay. The fresh air was lovely, and we enjoyed our walk.

It was fascinating to learn about the process of petrification. My entire life, I had errantly thought the wood had somehow turned to rock. It was refreshing to learn that silica enriched water ran through the logs, replacing the wood molecules with quartz, creating a replica of the wood. Mineral impurities caused the various colors within the quartz.

Giant Logs Trail

Our last stop in the park was Giant Logs Trail behind the visitor center. Again, we enjoyed roaming among the petrified wood. There were great views from the vantage points on the hill. We stopped at “Old Faithful,” a large, petrified tree in the middle of the area. Albert Einstein and his wife visited the park in 1931, having a photo taken next to “Old Faithful.” It was fun attempting to recreate a picture in the same spot where they once stood. Before we left the trail, Chris saw a small tarantula.

As we left the park, we stopped at the gift shop outside the park. They had large, beautiful pieces of polished, petrified wood for sale. Those were out of our price range, so we settled for a smaller, natural piece to take with us.

We left Petrified Forest National Park and headed for Tonto National Forest. As we drove, we could see snow on the tops of some of the mountains surrounding us. We enjoyed seeing the canyons along the way.

Salt River Canyon

Then we arrived at Salt River Canyon. The highway follows the mountains’ contours down to the bottom of the deep canyon, across the Salt River, and then back up the other side. The views along the drive were stunning. The scenery was so magnificent, even Chris was able to appreciate the sheer beauty of it, despite his qualms about the plunging landscape.

After coming out of the canyon, we were making good time until we ended up behind a slow-moving, black smoke pouring, stinky truck. We were about 15 cars behind. We had fun watching the cars in front of us take their turns passing the truck when they were able. Finally, we were only three cars back. A long, clear passing zone came, and all three of us passed the nasty truck at the same time. We were on our way again.

Tonto National Forest

As we neared our destination, we crossed a mountain pass that had been devastated by a wildfire. In one spot, we could see where the fire had jumped across the road, mangling the guard rail in the process. It was so sad to see the black trees standing in the black spots all over the sand on the sides of the mountain.

Soon a valley opened up before us. We could see a large body of water in the distance. That is not something we had seen since being in Arizona, so it was exciting. We wound our way closer to the water until we arrived near our planned camping spot. The directions to the BLM were not accurate. First, we ended up in a day-use area where camping is not allowed. We drove around and eventually found the campsite.

The spot we picked was beautiful. Mountains and saguaro cactuses surrounded us. The sunset was gorgeous. We drove by one other camper on our way in, but otherwise, we were alone.

In the morning, we decided to take a drive to check out another spot nearby. It was a beautiful forestry service campground at the top of the mountain. There were quite a few campers there, but we found a lovely site next to sacred ground, or at least that’s what the sign indicated.

Picking Up Supplies

One of the packages we had picked up in Colorado Springs was an inflatable air mat. We had two of them for our cot, one normal and one wide. They didn’t fit right in the 4Runner, so we had ordered another regular-sized one. Unfortunately, we found out on the first night we used it that it was defective and did not inflate. We arranged to have the replacement shipped to an Amazon locker in Phoenix as we were on the road.

We had a leisurely morning at the campground while we awaited delivery confirmation. I was irritated when I received a message saying the package was not deliverable to the Amazon locker address. Fortunately, the post office held it for pickup. When we went to the post office, we realized that we could have mail delivered through general delivery when we need it. That tidbit of information has been very helpful on this journey.

On To California

With the new mat in hand and the defective one on its way back to Amazon, we continued our trip west. We planned to spend the winter in southern California. I had a spot picked out for the night about an hour west of Phoenix, but Chris decided to drive through to California instead when we got there. As we continued west, a sliver of a moon hung low in the sky. It was lovely, gleaming against the beautiful colors of the sky just after sunset.

We were down to half a tank of gas, so I looked for the best place to fill up. I am so glad I did. I found a station with gas for $2.03/gallon. The next station down the road was $3.59/gallon. I quickly realized the difference was Arizona versus California. We stopped at the last station to fill up before leaving Arizona.

While in Arizona, we had a few experiences with border patrol. When we entered California, we experienced their border patrol. They aren’t looking for citizenship but instead want to know if you have any fruit or plants with you. I am not sure what happens if you have them, but we did not.

We were about 70 miles into California when we arrived at Chiriaco Summit. We quickly found the Dry Camp area, where the sign said we could stay for seven nights. In the wake of the pandemic, California asks that out of state visitors quarantine for two weeks. We decided to spend a week in the Dry Camp and then find another BLM for the second week.