Senior Moments

Petrified logs in the Crystal Forest of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. June 13, 2011.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

The Crystal Forest is a section of Petrified Forest National Park with a landscape dotted with petrified logs.

A century of collecting (before the park was established) has removed many of the logs, especially those which contained quartz crystals.

A petrified log in the Crystal Forest, Petrified Forest National Park. June 13, 2011.

The trail through the Crystal Forest leads past logs show a rainbow of colors.  Many of the logs plainly show what was once the bark of the trees, but they are all amazing.

A petrified stump showing a rainbow of colors. June 13, 2011.

Reds and whites are fairly common in the petrified wood, but blues and yellows can also be seen.

Jasper Forest in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. June 13, 2011

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Petrified wood falling to the valley floor from a bluff opposite the overlook at Jasper Forest. June 13, 2011.

Jasper Forest is a valley in the Petrified Forest National Park that was once covered with petrified wood.  The petrified wood was encased in the bluffs that surround the valley, and when erosion removed the softer rocks, the petrified logs tumbled and accumulated on the valley floor.

Petrified wood at the base of a bluff in Jasper Forest. The forest gets it's name from the reddish-brown color of the petrified logs. June 13, 2011.

The valley was once filled with fallen logs, but commercial collectors plundered it in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The collectors would then sell the petrified wood as souvenirs.  Outrage against the plundering of Jasper Forest helped lead to the establishment of Petrified Forest as a National Monument in 1906.

A partially exposed petrified log in Jasper Forest. It, too, may tumble to the valley floor in a few centuries. June 13, 2011.

Jasper Forest got it’s name from the opaque reddish-brown color of the petrified wood found in the valley.

The Painted Desert from an overlook on Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park. June 13, 2011.

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

The Blue Mesa is an area which is just about in the center of the Petrified Forest National Park.  It is reached by a scenic road and loop off the main park road.  The elevation of Blue Mesa is higher than those parts of the Painted Desert in the northern part of the park.  The view from Blue Mesa is fantastic, as can be seen from the picture above.

Erosion along the rim of Blue Mesa. June 13, 2011.

Because of a thicker protective sandstone cap, erosion around Blue Mesa has been slower than the erosion in other parts of the Painted Desert.  While erosion is obviously going on, the colors uncovered so far are darker than those of other parts of the Painted Desert.  As erosion continues the reds and pinks seen in the northern part of the park will be present at Blue Mesa as well.

View from the Blue Mesa Trail, Petrified Forest National Park. June 13, 2011.

At the northern end of Blue Mesa, the Blue Mesa trail makes a mile loop down into the badlands.  While we did not have time to hike the entire trail, we did hike far enough to see more of the work of erosion at Blue Mesa.