The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and Route 66 (Arizona)
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011May 6th
Our first glimpse of the Painted Desert was from the Grand Canyon. Far off in the distance, you could see the pink, blue and yellow tinted sands. We arrived in the park early in the morning when the light was soft and the colors less intense, but the effect was the same. Where did these amazing colors come from? Our visit of the park took us through a desert landscape, then blue cliffs, and finally to the petrified forest where chunks of petrified wood was scattered over the land. The grand finale was a dense area of whole petrified logs. The old Route 66 once passed through the park. Now, all you can see are telephone poles that follow its old route (it’s been replaced by the highway in many areas now.)
The Petrified Forest lies on the border of the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian Reservation in the United States. We drove up to see the Hubbell Trading Post, a historic landmark. This is still an active trading post with a shop selling food supplies as well as handicrafts and rugs. The surrounding property was once part of the Hubbell ranch, including the barns, the home and an interesting hexagonal guest house.
After a long day’s drive, we were planning to camp in a state park in New Mexico. I called ahead to make sure it was open and that there was space. Everything seemed in order, but when we arrived (using our trusty GPS as a guide the entrance was closed (with a sign saying that it would reopen Memorial Day.) We had obviously taken the wrong entrance, but couldn’t find the main entrance. (The park lies on a large lake, and we ended up on a dirt road that skirted the lake through some private property.) Tired and feeling slightly defeated, we decided to drive back to the highway and look for another cheap “Route 66” motel. We found one in Grant, an old Uranium mining town that had seen better days. I even negotiated the price of the hotel down $5, a rarity in the U.S.
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