Petrified Forest National Park in 1 Day Itinerary
So many pretty colors! One of the petrified logs on the Crystal Forest Trail
Experience the best of Petrified Forest National Park in 1 day with this helpful itinerary!
Learn how to best navigate the park to maximize your time and get tips on where to park, what to see, and how long to stay at each site.
My family explored Petrified Forest National Park as part of a 5-week road trip from South Carolina to Arizona, and this stop did not disappoint.
We had limited time at each activity along the way, so I made a game plan for each day.
The itinerary you’ll find below is based on that game plan, as well as our real world experience once we were in the park.
As with all of my itineraries and outdoor travel suggestions, this agenda is kid-friendly and suitable for all members of your family.
Preparing For Your Day in Petrified Forest National Park
Let’s insure that your day runs as smoothly as possible!
Here are the best tips on how to experience Petrified Forest National Park with your family.
NOTE: If this is your first trip to a national park, you’ll want to read through my comprehensive guide to the U.S. National Parks for beginners, which explains in detail everything from how the Junior Rangers program works to how to nab accommodations in the parks.
Gas up.
You’ll want to fill up your tank with gas before you get started as there are no gas stations once you leave the Painted Desert Visitors Center.
I’d recommend filling up back in Holbrook instead.
While there is a small gas station at the Painted Desert Visitors Center, the prices there are higher than in Holbrook or elsewhere along I-40.
Stay the course.
Keep in mind that once you leave either visitors center, there isn’t any way off of the main road through the park.
This means that you’ll need to either keep driving to the other end of the park (more then 25 miles) or turn around and head back the way you came.
The author’s son with sun shirt and wide brimmed hat at the Puerco Pueblo Trail
Be proactive.
The desert environment is hot, dry, and windy.
During the summer time, the day time temperatures can easily top 100 degrees, while spring and fall days still have enough sun to provide sunburns.
There’s little to no shade in the park.
While this lack of shade won’t affect you too much if you simply do the drive through, it can become a major cause of concern while out on the trails.
Pack more water than you think you’ll need and drink consistently throughout the day.
Wear hats and sunscreen.
Adding on a long sleeved sun shirt—especially if you’re doing a longer hike—is another great tool.
Bring the snacks.
The park doesn’t have many amenities, so you’re on your own once you leave that visitors center.
We packed a picnic with snacks, drinks, and sandwiches. Doing so allowed us to keep exploring the park without needing to leave to find lunch.
Keep in mind that the only place to get a meal in the park is at the Painted Desert Visitors Center at the north end of the park.
1 Day Petrified Forest National Park Itinerary
PIN ME!
Prepare for a day of adventure in Petrified Forest National Park!
We’ll focus our attention on the main drive through the park (creatively named Main Park Road), and what you can easily accomplish from there in one day.
Keep in mind that the park essentially has 2 sections: one devoted to the southern end of the Painted Desert, and another focusing on the petrified wood that the park is actually named after.
Both are worth your time, and it’s fascinating to see the contrast in landscape between the sections.
If you follow this itinerary, you’ll explore both sections.
Explore more! Petrified Forest National Park is just one amazing stop on our ultimate Utah and Arizona road trip itinerary.
Morning Itinerary
I’d suggest arriving at the park early, preferably right when it opens around 8 AM.
See open and closing times for the national park here.
You’ll spend the majority of your morning exploring the Painted Desert section of the park, which is roughly the northern third of the park.
Painted Desert Visitors Center
Time spent here: approximately 1 hour
This complex should be your first stop in the park as it has everything you need to begin your successful day adventuring in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.
Here, you’ll find wide, easy parking that’s equally great for sedans and RVs.
Head to the back of the complex to the bookstore, which where you can find essentials like maps and guidebooks as well as small selection of souvenirs.
You’ll be able to get a map of Petrified Forest National Park that shows the path of Main Park Road, as well as rest areas and backcountry hiking options.
Kids can pick up their Junior Ranger booklets from the volunteer ranger in the back of the bookstore.
Next, head over to the gift shop, where you’ll find restrooms, a small snack counter, and the park’s overview video.
If you’re searching for a souvenir, this gift shop has a much wider variety of cups, jewelry, sweatshirts, signs, and postcards than the bookstore.
Also at the visitors center is the only gas station in the park—and the only gas station within 25 miles in any direction.
While it is convenient, the park also knows it has a captive audience, so prepare for higher prices.
Don’t forget to fill up your water bottles at the filtered water station to the right of the large NPS sign on the visitors center building.
Once you’ve done all of that, it’s time to get the drive started!
Entrance Booth and First overlook
Time spent here: 10-15 minutes
Once you leave the Painted Desert Visitors Center, you’ll stop at the entrance booth to pay your admission.
Admission is typically $25 per car, but consider purchasing the America the Beautiful pass for reasons I outline below.
TIP: If you’re visiting the Petrified Forest National Park and just two more NPS sites in the same year, you will save money by purchasing the family America the Beautiful pass for $80.
For example, if you were visiting Petrified National Park on the Monument Valley to Petrified Forest road trip itinerary, you’d visit 4 NPS sites along the way.
If you paid out of pocket for entrance fees to the Grand Canyon, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Sunset Crater National Monument, and Petrified Forest National Park, the total admission cost would be $110.
You’d save $30 just by buying a pass and showing it at the entrance station of each site.
P.S. I’m not an NPS affiliate. I just think the pass is a great money saver!
Once you’ve gotten past the entrance booth, you’ll begin a gradual climb into the Painted Desert.
You’ll see the first overlook at Tiponi Point and parking lot soon afterwards.
Go ahead and stop if you’d like, but know that EVERYONE stops here.
Keep going to the next overlook—Tawa Point—for pictures without anyone else in them—and no jostling for the perfect photo.
The Painted Desert Inn and Kachina Point
The Camping Kiddos near the Kachina Point
Time spent here: 1-2 hours
Plan to linger here as there’s lots to see and do.
If you’d like more photos of the Painted Desert, you won’t do much better than the vistas here.
Walk to the back of The Painted Desert Inn for a truly spectacular 270-degree view of the surrounding hills.
In this area, there are also several places to hike.
Hiking from Kachina Point to Tawa Point in the Painted Desert
From Kachina Point (behind the Inn), you can hike to nearby Tawa Point, which provides some beautiful overviews.
That trail continues on from Tawa Point back to the visitors center, but I’d only recommend that hike if the weather is cool.
If you’d like to see what the canyon floor is like in the Painted Desert, you can take the Onyx Bridge Trail and head into the backcountry.
The trailhead to Onyx Bridge is to the left of the inn, and it is marked with signs and brick stairs.
The Painted Desert Inn is worth a quick walkthrough, too.
This inn was once run by Fred Harvey, a hotelier known for impeccable taste and top quality customer service.
La Posada Inn in Winslow, Arizona is another Fred Harvey Inn, as is the Bright Angel Lodge in the Grand Canyon National Park.
Today, you can still see the original lunch counter and sit in the twirling chairs.
The walls are covered with native-inspired artwork, and you can buy authentic Navajo and Hopi jewelry in one of the top floor rooms.
Before you leave, grab an ice cream from the small shop at the inn! This is the only place on Main Park Road to get a treat of any kind other than the visitors centers at each end.
Route 66 stop
Time spent here: 30 minutes
My dad and the Camping Kiddos on the old Route 66
If you close your eyes at this stop, you can almost hear the big ‘50s cars slowly heading down Route 66!
(Or maybe that’s the actual, in-real-time traffic from nearby Interstate 40?)
In any case, this stop provides a pause between the 2 sections of the park and reminds visitors how important Route 66 was to this area—and to the creation of this national park, specifically.
When the Mother Road was created, it carried visitors through the northern section of the petrified forest.
Much like the even earlier pioneers and 19th century railroad passengers who visited this area, the Route 66 passengers were amazed at the colorful rolling hills and the brilliant, massive chunks of fossilized trees scattered across the desert.
Those Route 66 passengers created a word of mouth buzz for other visitors to come to this area, and that support led to the creation of this area as a national forest in 1962.
Today, you can see the remains of an old Studebaker just steps from the small parking lot.
If you follow the power lines beyond the car, you can see roughly where Route 66 once was.
There aren’t any official trails here, though there’s a small dirt path carved out by visitors over time to the left of the car.
Just watch out for snakes and other critters, and be respectful of the local plant life.
Transitioning to the petrified forest section
After the Route 66 stop, you’ll head back over I-40 and into the southern portion of the national park.
NOTE: There isn’t an on-ramp here. If you want to get back onto I-40, you’ll need to head north back to the visitors center.
Interestingly, the landscape changes dramatically as you cross over the interstate.
You’ll leave behind the red, orange, pink, blue, and grey hills of the Painted Desert, and you’ll head into a flatter landscape punctuated by craggy plateaus and buttes.
You’ll also almost immediately begin to see large chunks and logs of fossilized trees.
Keep going—there are many great places to pull off and see the petrified wood further south in the park.
Afternoon Itinerary
Hiking
You’ll have to make a few difficult decisions about where to hike as there are simply too many options to fit into a single day visit.
Our vote is to focus on 3 areas: the Puerco Pueblo Loop, the Blue Mesa Scenic Loop, and the Crystal Forest Trail.
Keep in mind that there aren’t any trees or shade on these trails, so go early, wear a hat, and drink plenty of water.
All of these trails are short and easy enough to do quickly with kids.
You’ll be able to get out of the car, but none of these will turn into a major outing!
>> Make sure you have everything you need for these easy, short hikes—and beyond—with our complete hiking gear checklist for kids. <<
My 6-year-old on the Puerco Pueblo hike
The first trailhead for the Puerco Pueblo Loop is just after you cross over I-40, and it is located at the southern end of a parking lot and restroom building.
The paved interpretive trail takes visitors past several pueblo ruins, a scenic overlook, and rocks with petroglyphs.
There’s also a small shelter packed with information on the archeology and geology of this area, which helps place the overall site into context.
Next, head south to the Blue Mesa Scenic Loop, which is accessed off of the Main Park Road.
If you can only drive this loop, it’s still worth your time, but hiking down into the multi-colored hills is the best way to experience it.
While the trail is paved and generally easy, there is a steep incline at the entrance to get you to the floor of the small canyon area.
Interspersed in the vibrant hills are large chunks of petrified wood.
The Blue Mesa Trail is incredible!
The older Camping Kiddo at the windy Crystal Forest Trail!
Finally, head to the Crystal Forest Trail, which is less than 2 miles to the southern visitors center.
Don’t rush your trip here as this is one of the best places to get up close to the brilliantly colored pieces of petrified wood.
Note that this area of the park can be extremely windy sometimes, so hold on to your hats (literally!).
The trail here is well marked and paved, and there is a small shelter if you’d like to pause part of the way through.
Want more kid-friendly suggestions? Check out our list of the 5 best hikes in Petrified Forest National Park for families!
Picnic
As there aren’t any snack stands or restaurants other than at the 2 visitors centers and the Painted Desert Inn, you’re on your own for lunch.
We packed a picnic on ice in our cooler, but ended up tailgating at the parking lot near Puerco Pueblo Trailhead as we couldn’t find any picnic areas.
We certainly weren’t the only ones doing this! While we were eating, at least 3 other cars/RVs pulled up around us and tailgated for lunch, too.
While it wasn’t the most glamorous set up—and it certainly wasn’t to the standard of the wonderful picnic area during our one day in White Sands National Park—it worked enough to get us back on the road.
Overlooks
You could easily spend most of a day just doing the overlooks, so you’ll need to focus on the best ones.
The other overlooks take too much time for a single day visit, and many of them have views that are duplicated in the suggested hikes (above).
In the Petrified Forest section of the park, we recommend the Newspaper Rock overlook for a stop.
Newspaper Rock is an incredible overlook which is great for kids, thanks to the free binoculars here.
The name of this overlook comes from the highly decorated rocks with petroglyphs on the desert floor below the observation deck.
There are many recognizable pictures on the rocks, including stick figures and suns.
Plus, the observation deck provides views of several miles across the desert.
The one other overlook that we’d recommend on a 1 day itinerary would be the Agate Bridge overlook.
This one is fascinating as the focal point isn’t a sweeping vista like at Newspaper Rock.
Instead, you get to see a massive fallen petrified tree that now spans a gully, which was washed out from underneath the log over thousands of years.
In the 1920s, a concrete beam was placed under the log for support, but even that will not save this natural bridge ultimately.
Go see it while it’s still in one piece!
There is a small parking lot and covered shelter at this overlook if you need to stop for a few minutes.
Rainbow Forest Visitor Center
The Camping Kiddos behind the Rainbow Forest Visitors Center
Time to get another Junior Ranger badge!
Your last stop of the day needs to be at the Rainbow Forest Visitors Center, which is located at the very southern end of the park.
This visitors center is much smaller than the Painted Desert Visitors Center at the northern end of the park, but it has a little gift shop and snack shop.
This is where your kids can turn in their Junior Ranger pamphlets and get sworn in. Look for the volunteer ranger at the front desk to check the books.
My kids also enjoyed seeing the fossilized skeletons inside the Rainbow Forest Visitors Center and standing next to the largest petrified log in the park (behind the building).
More Resources for the Petrified Forest National Park and Surrounding Area
Petrified Forest National Park FAQs
Where is the best camping near Petrified Forest National Park?
As there is no car, tent, or front country camping inside Petrified Forest National Park, you can either hike into the backcountry to tent camp or go to a campground outside of the park.
We stayed at the Holbrook KOA in nearby Holbrook, Arizona, and the location and amenities easily made this the best camping near Petrified Forest National Park!
What else should I visit in this part of Arizona?
There’s so much to do near Petrified Forest National Park!
We enjoyed exploring historic Holbrook and Winslow AZ on Route 66. Meteor Crater is another must-see, and it is about 45 minutes from the Painted Desert Visitors Center.
Or, you could do the entire Monument Valley to Petrified Forest road trip itinerary to explore the best of northern Arizona!
When is the best time of year to visit Petrified Forest National Park?
The best time of the year to visit Petrified Forest National Park is February-early May, and October-November.
The temperatures are cooler, so you have more options on when to hike.
Is Petrified Forest National Park worth visiting?
Yes, Petrified Forest National Park is absolutely worth a visit.
The park’s incredible array of petrified wood, sweeping desert vistas, and desert hiking make this a must-do activity in Arizona.
Plus, the low crowds and easy access to I-40 means you can easily add on a side trip to Petrified Forest when traveling through this part of Arizona.
