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Monday, June 18, 2018

Blue Mesa Trail - Petrified Forest National Park


On the homeward leg of our March 2018 trip to California, we took a short detour through Petrified Forest National Park. We exited Interstate 40 at Holbrook, Arizona and followed US 180 east about 20 miles to the southern entrance to the park. Since we had spent several days at the park in 2015, we just drove through the park from south to north along the 28 mile Petrified Forest Road with only a few stops. One of those stops was to hike the Blue Mesa Trail near the middle of the park. The paved, one-mile loop trail descends steeply from the top of Blue Mesa 120 feet to the base of the mesa. A sign at the beginning of the trail states that the grade is up to 35% on the descent and up to 18% on the loop at the base of the mesa. While the trail is five feet wide with no stairs and the pavement is in great condition, this is definitely not an ADA-compliant trail! A single bench has been provided about two-thirds of the way up the climb to the mesa top for those visitors needing to rest before continuing up to their vehicle. The very short trail to the picnic shelter is ADA-compliant and the view provided to the north showcases a great vista of the park.

Trail head

Picnic shelter

Crossing a gap in the mesa

View northwest from atop the mesa

View southwest to the trail 120' below

Trail begins a steep descent

Another view into the eroded mesa

Bench at trail switchback

Steep descent to the base of the mesa

Beginning of the loop

Blue Mesa

Petrified logs beside the trail

Layers of clay

Side "canyon"

People on the other side of the loop

Another side canyon

Overlook on Blue Mesa Scenic Road

Blue Mesa

Erosion around and below a petrified log

Conglomerate cap rock slows erosion

View southwest to the mouth of the "canyon"

Gravel from the conglomerate layer is scattered across the ground

More layers of clay and signs of erosion

Looking back across the floor at Blue Mesa

A geologist's paradise

Like debris from a woodlot

Evidence of flowing water

More layers beside the trail

Wayside exhibit provides the only sense of scale

A very clear delineation between clay layers

Another view of the trail

More petrified trees

A whole tree at the bottom of a ravine

Colorful minerals

Scattered piles of petrified wood

Depth of clay layers varies in a short distance

Colors seemingly change with the light

Beginning the climb back up

Note the stone retaining wall near the top of the ascent

View north to Pilot Rock (6234' 16 miles)

Erosion in the desert

Very deep-rooted shrub

View northeast from atop Blue Mesa

Entrance to Petrified Forest National Park requires an entry fee of $20 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/pefo.

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