• Front cover in a vintage screen-print poster style: broken segments of a huge petrified log, their cut ends showing orange, cream, and lavender rings, lie on a sunlit slope in front of rounded badland hills banded in lavender, rose, and cream, with a long flat mesa on the horizon under a teal sky and dark green shrubs below, above the title Petrified Forest National Park.
  • Sample page from the Petrified Forest National Park guide, wildlife chapter. Entry: Common raven, with how to recognize it, where and when to see it, and a photograph.
  • Sample page from the Petrified Forest National Park guide, a day itinerary with times, distances, and a photograph: Long Logs.
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Brian Russ Guides

Petrified Forest National Park: History, Highlights, and One- to Three-Day Adventures

Petrified Forest National Park: History, Highlights, and One- to Three-Day Adventures

$2.99 USD
$2.99 USD
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Petrified Forest National Park is more than a quick drive past some old logs, if you know where to stop and how to time your day. This guide helps you plan one, two, or three days, from the red Painted Desert to the rainbow logs of Rainbow Forest, at the pace that suits you.

What's inside

  • Nine ready-made itineraries: one, two, and three days, each at easy, moderate, and strenuous effort, from the Painted Desert overlooks, the Painted Desert Inn, and Route 66 to Puerco Pueblo, Blue Mesa, Jasper Forest, Crystal Forest, Giant Logs, Long Logs, and Agate House, plus backcountry routes and a wilderness overnight, each with a weather backup
  • The park's history, from the Triassic river forests and the first hunters to the ancestral Puebloan villages, the 1906 monument, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Route 66
  • Sightseeing highlights stop by stop along the 28-mile park road, with notes on hours, water, and permits
  • A wildlife chapter profiling 12 commonly seen animals, from pronghorn and coyotes to collared lizards and ravens, each with a photograph and notes on where and when to look
  • Trip planning for seasons, heat and storms, fees, permits, lodging in Holbrook, pets, and accessibility
  • 32 photographs and 4 orientation maps

What you'll receive

  • EPUB ebook (Petrified_Forest_National_Park_Brian_D_Russ.epub, about 11 MB) for Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and most e-reader apps. Kindle readers can send it to their library with Amazon's Send to Kindle.
  • PDF (Petrified_Forest_National_Park_Brian_D_Russ.pdf, 98 pages including the cover, about 24 MB) for any device, and for printing pages. It opens on the illustrated cover.

Your download link arrives by email right after purchase.

Edition

First illustrated edition, October 2026, with research completed October 2026. Hours, services, and permits change, so check the park's current alerts before you travel.

Bring water and an early start: the park's gates open at eight and close at five.

This is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service.
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