Painted Desert

Painted Desert - A beautiful, colorful, wondrous adventure that dates back to the dinosaurs.

The Painted Desert is what these beautiful badlands in Northern Arizona are called. The Spanish named it El Desierto Pintado as gazed upon the bright colors of the landscape.

It lies across an area from the Grand Canyon National Park to the Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert encompasses over 90,000 acres. It is not far from the Wupatki National Monument Indian Ruins. The range of colors from red, pink, orange and lavender create a rainbow across the badlands. This multi-colored result of the shifting earth, along with volcanoes and earthquakes have joined together to create this gorgeous landscape.

This beautiful land is protected as the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area. Since there are not many roads, a hike through this beautiful land is a great way to see even more of it. Most people visit the Eastern part of the Painted Desert. Stop by the Visitor's Center about 30 miles east of Holbrook just off I-40 for great information about the best parts of this place.

The Painted Desert is Navajo Nation land. You could even see evidence of dinosaurs and ancient people here. There are a couple of towns in the Painted Desert. Cameron and Tuba City, are places you can visit within the Navajo Nation.

The shale, siltstone, and mudstone erode easily. The manganese and iron in the layer of rock provide a colorful landscape that we can all enjoy. Gaze upon the petrified wood that lives (or does it?) in the Painted Desert.

This place was not really noticed until the 16th century. The ancient peoples began to disappear as more people began to explore the area. Over the next couple of centuries, tourism began and it became a protected place. Several interesting artifacts have been collected and can be seen in the Petrified Forest National Park museum. Be sure to stop by the museum while sightseeing in the Painted Desert.

Be sure to stop by the Petrified Forest National Park, not far from the Painted Desert while sightseeing. The forests here almost sparkle. A former home to dinosaurs, the past still seems to be living here. Evidence of ancient Indians such as Agate House and Puerco Pueblo are sights to see while here.

Stop by the old Painted Desert Inn, built in the early 1900s by Herbert Lore. Once a place to stay, it closed during World War II, but Mary Colter worked on a redesign. The Interstate forced it to close, but it was later added to the National Register of Historic Places and is now a gift shop and bookstore near the Painted Desert.