Here, the rattlesnake lies coiled in the shade of the sombre hued cones, and scarcely troubles to sound his warning when visitors intrude. Overhead a tireless buzzard hangs suspended. No other signs of life are seen in this dead gray waste, the burial plot of the Dark Ages.
The Painted Desert
Many of the Petrified Forest visitors are intensely interested in the Painted Desert, lying only a few miles from Adamana. On U. S. Highway 66, six miles from the Rio Puerco, one comes to a sign: “Painted Desert Inn”. A mile from the highway this inn is stationed. But before reaching the building, an abrupt climb brings one to the top of the mesa, and spread out before the eyes is the world’s most magnificent palette, with the colors ready mixed,—The Painted Desert. It is a breath-taking vision that bursts on one’s sight, this “El Pintado Desierto” that Coronado stumbled upon and named in 1540. As far as one can see colors mingle and glow. From the most delicate lavendar to the deepest purple, from palest pink to flaming red, greens, browns, chocolate and blues, all the colors are here. This desert does not lie in level sandy stretches, but is formed of mounds and hills, and varying sizes of “haystacks”.
With each hour, as the light changes in the sky, so change the colors of this wonderland. It is truly the foot of the rainbow. Walk down the trail and there is the bewildered feeling that one has strayed into an immense paint factory which has just been badly wrecked! The sand underfoot is light, almost like burnt earth, but the colors are there, mixed by the Super Artist.
This Painted Desert is a fitting frame for the Petrified Forest.
How To Reach The Petrified Forest
The Petrified Forest is one of the most popular and accessible units of the National Park Service, open every day in the year. Westbound tourists traveling by automobile may choose between two great continental highways that will lead directly to the “Forest”.
U. S. Highway No. 66 passes on the north and tourists may enter the Forest either from Adamana or Holbrook. This highway brings the traveler by the famous Painted Desert.
U. S. Highway No. 70 on the Carlsbad-Petrified Forest-Grand Canyon Route, winds through the foothills of the White Mountains by way of Springerville, and passes through one of the most interesting sections of the Petrified Forest.
Eastbound tourists enter the Forest from Holbrook where Highways No. 66 and 70 meet.