Hope you like the colors of brown, orange, and beige! The Petrified Forest began, for us, at the Blue Mesa which is located south of I-40 in the Park. There were pieces of wood scattered about, some so large that it was hard to imagine the process that has to occur for them to be here for us to enjoy.
Just look at the size of that log perched atop that mound!!
A visual definition of helter skelter!! Those are not small boulders and pieces of wood.
From Blue Mesa we headed to Jasper Gardens. The light was just right and although this site does not have as many pieces of wood as the next two sites along the road, I felt, in retrospect, that is was the most productive site we visited. Light plays a huge part in shooting the wood. It is quite reflective, can clip easily and shadows occur early in the afternoon.
There is a large parking area at Crystal Gardens but we passed on hiking down the short trail. The site is called that because of the amount of mica in the rocks and it really sparkled. We wanted to get to the last stop before the Park closed. The last stop is at the southern end of the park. Here a well and quite easy to navigate trail takes you through a large field of petrified wood, some pieces are quite large. This is where we shot our Golden Hour images. The wood was gorgeous but the shadows were challenging.
Golden Hour makes a difference.
We decided to return home by going up to Holbrook and taking the I-40 to Flagstaff and then down I-17. We got home after 11 pm. Long, wonderful day. Very wonderful!!