Courtesy Mrs. Adam Hanna
The most noted tree in the whole reservation. The Natural Bridge. About four feet in thickness this 111 foot log measures 44 feet between the sides of the arroyo.
How? When? Why?
“How did it happen?”
That is usually the first question asked of the rangers in the Petrified Forest.
In contact with eighty thousands or more tourists each year, there are certain questions asked so many times that one learns what the average person is most curious about in connection with these petrified trees. Here are the most popular of these questions, together with the answers, shorn of technical terms:
Why are none of the trees standing?
This is simply an exposed deposit of petrified logs that came here from a distance, as driftwood.
How were they brought here?
Probably by rivers in flood periods. This region might have been the mouth of a large river as is indicated by the crossbedded sandstone.