Petrified ForestNP/Painted Desert 04/12/08

This morning we drove to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert and did some hiking. Probably throughout the whole day we only did 6 miles but it is a good warm up for when we do the Grand Canyon hikes. It felt so good to be hiking instead of riding in the car today. Since the weather was much warmer than previous days, I didn’t even need a jacket while we were hiking. We hiked to the Agate House, Long Log Trail, Jasper Forest, Crystal Forest , Agate Bridge, Blue Mesa, and Puerco Pueblo, just to mention a few hikes. We left there and then headed toward Flagstaff for the night. After talking to some friends on Twitter, someone suggested that we stop in Winslow and see the historic La Posada Hotel, which we did. Then we finally made it to Flagstaff. We got a motel on Rt. 66 again in another vintage motel (a step up from yesterday’s vintage motel). I’m just wondering if we look so old and in need of protection because at every motel we stayed at, they have given us the room closest to the office where it is “safe." After a quick trip to Wal Mart to get a tripod for my camera (I brought a tripod but forgot the thing that attaches the camera to the tripod!) and some diet pepsi for me, we ate dinner at McDonalds.

This is a petrified log.

Here I am standing beside a petrified tree roots.

These were petroglyphs seen at the Puerco Pueblo.

Here is the trail in the Blue Mesa.