Tapestry Of Time

On day nine, we traveled through northern Arizona and stopped at the Petrified Forest. This fossilized forest is in Apache country, in Arizona. This was a trip of a lifetime. We drove our car on the road through the park.

I was thrilled to be there; it was a wonderful experience to be able to see the colorful trees lying around the Crystal Forest Trail. There were loads of stone tree trunks lying around us on the ground. The wood of the trees was now hard as a rock. All the water that has minerals in it was soaked up by the wood and fossilized them. Their crystal-like form was exciting to see.

We hiked the trail and looked around at the countless colors, hues, and shades painted on this tapestry of time. There was also a rule- “Don’t take a thing from the forest.” I really wanted to take something, but I did not. We followed the rules.

The trails to me were not hard to hike. We then came to the Agate Bridge Trail. We could see a petrified wood bridge. Sadly, it was closed, and we were not permitted to go on it, because the huge, long log crossing one hundred ten feet across the gully was in danger of breaking. The park is trying to preserve it.

We hiked two trails and then drove for a while to the Painted Desert. We also crossed Historic Route 66 on our way there. There were all kinds of old-time things. We saw a 1932 Studebaker car and part of the old roadbed and a line of historic telephone poles. Later we would travel part of the Mother Road in Tucumcari, New Mexico. There were gas stations and old-time stores and vintage motels. Everything there was amazing.

We drove through the Painted Desert and came to Blue Mesa. We hiked the one mile black-topped trail there; we were up remarkably high. We could see a train off in the distance, traveling beyond the blue, purple, gray, and peach banded scenery.

We were running out of time. We needed to go to the next adventure. The colorful badlands were a great exciting experience for me. But it was time to move along and set up camp before it got dark. We continued our way to next fun place, Tucumcari.

~Unique