Looking for the best Petrified Forest hikes? You’ve come to the right place! We recently visited this iconic Arizona national park and had a blast exploring all the trails along its scenic drive. Below, we’ve listed out our 9 favorites to make planning your upcoming trip to Petrified Forest National Park a breeze. Stay tuned to the end of this article for more useful travel tips like when to visit, what to pack, and more!
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🥾 About Hiking in Petrified Forest National Park
The majority of trails in Petrified Forest National Park are easy to moderate in difficulty and generally take under an hour to complete. Basically, all of them branch off from the park’s scenic drive, a 28.5-mile (46-km) road that runs from the north to the south of the park.
We recommend starting at the north or south entrance and making your way down the entire length of this road, stopping to hike wherever you like. Overall, this is a fairly compact park, so it’s quite easy to find your way around. Hop down to our map of the park for an overhead view of where the following hikes are located.
There are even more things to do in Petrified Forest National Park besides hiking. To discover other attractions, like scenic overlooks, cultural events, or guided tours, hop over to our related article, 11 Best Things to Do in Petrified Forest National Park (Free & Paid).
The Best 9 Petrified Forest Hikes
Below, we’ve listed our 9 favorite hikes in Petrified Forest National Park. Along with our experience on each of these trails, we’ve included detailed trail maps as well as quick facts about each route, such as the length, average hiking time, and more.
🐶 Coming with your dog? Unlike some other national parks that we’ve been to, Petrified Forest is very dog-friendly! Leashed pets are allowed on any paved road or trail, along with designated wilderness areas.
1. Blue Mesa Trail
Blue Mesa Trail is the most-reviewed route on AllTrails, and we quickly understood why! This easy, 1-mile (1.6-km) loop trail features stunning views of the multicolored badlands with informational plaques about the geological history to read as you walk.
Nestled within the badlands of the Painted Desert, this particular trail takes you down into a valley of clay hills that are rich in mineral deposits. These mineral deposits cause striking layers of color in the hills, which even shift based on the light that is hitting them. Between the arid landscape, lack of vegetation, and unique geological features, we felt as if we had stepped onto another planet!
This trail was very similar to the Historic Blue Forest Trail, so if you’re short on time, we’d recommend just hitting this one (Blue Mesa), as it gets you to the highlights faster. We also wanted to point out that although this trail is 100% paved, it has a good number of steep inclines and declines, so it is not wheelchair accessible.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1 mile (1.6 km)
Time: 30 minutes
Type: Loop
2. Crystal Forest Trail
Crystal Forest Trail is the second-most hiked trail in the park. This easy, paved loop trail takes you through the heart of the Petrified Forest, so you get to see a lot of petrified wood here! We found that this trail was better maintained by the National Park Service than trails in the front of the park, so if you’re looking for a clear, paved path for accessibility purposes, we think this is a great fit!
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Time: 30 minutes
Type: Loop
3. Historic Blue Forest Trail
The Historic Blue Forest Trail ended up being our favorite hike in the entire park! This moderate-level trail gives you a similar experience to that of the Blue Mesa Trail, so we recommend picking one or the other. Although this was our favorite, if you’re short on time, go for the Blue Mesa Trail.
This trail involves a little bit of rock scrambling as well as hiking along some steep ridges, so keep this in mind if you have any mobility concerns or a fear of heights. These factors definitely bumped up the challenge of this route for us, but also the fun!
We recommend parking in this small parking lot on Petrified Forest Road, located just south of the Teepees. Once you’ve parked, hop on the trail (using AllTrails if you need help finding the trailhead), which starts on an old road. This will lead you to the clay mounds, where the trail starts to gain in elevation. We downloaded the AllTrails map in advance, which ended up being super helpful as the trail isn’t as well-marked as others in the park.
We didn’t see too many people on the trail, which was a nice respite from some of the other, more popular trails. Once we got to the top, the views were spectacular—some of the best in the park in our opinion. We were fully immersed in the blue mesas and got an impressive bird’s eye view of the Petrified Forest.
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 2.7 miles (4.3 km)
Time: 1 to 1.5 hours
Type: Out-and-back
4. Painted Desert Rim Trail
The Painted Desert Rim Trail is another easy, short trail that, as the name suggests, takes you along the rim of the Painted Desert. More specifically, from Kachina Point to Tawa Point, two gorgeous overlooks. As there’s minimal elevation gain along its entire length, this is a great trail for all ages.
We began this hike from the Painted Desert Visitor Center (currently the inn), right by Kachina Point, and hiked over to Tawa Point, although you can also hike it in the opposite direction. There are tons of signs you can read along the way that talk about the park’s history, which you can also learn about in the Visitor Center.
🍦 In the mood for ice cream? The Painted Desert Inn serves ice cream, just make sure to have some cash on you as it’s a cash-only spot!
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Type: Out-and-back
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5. Long Logs & Agate House Trail
Long Logs & Agate House is an easy, beautiful loop that holds one of the largest concentrations of petrified wood in the park! The trail is paved, but wasn’t very maintained when we hiked it, so it’s not a great trail if you have accessibility concerns.
The trail is aptly named Long Logs after the large quantity of long pieces of petrified wood in this particular area—some up to 30 feet long we would guess! The other trail that you can combine with Long Logs, Agate House Loop, takes you to a house made out of Agate! It was really neat and probably the highlight of our time in this southern section of the Petrified Forest.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 2.6 miles (4.2 km)
Time: 1 hour
Type: Loop
6. Puerco Pueblo Trail
Puerco Pueblo Trail is an easy hike to learn more about the human history of the area. It takes you via a short paved trail to the Puerco Pueblo, ruins of an ancient Puebloan village with 100 small apartment-like buildings that surround a courtyard.
There are also some petroglyphs in the area, as well as a small building with bathrooms and a bit of information about the human history of the park. We really enjoyed this short stop to learn a bit more about the functioning civilization that was once present in what is now an arid national park.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Time: <30 minutes
Type: Loop
7. Onyx Bridge Trail
Onyx Bridge Trail is one of the few longer, moderate-level trails in the park, starting at the Painted Desert Inn Visitor Center. This hike is a “choose your own adventure” experience, as it doesn’t follow a set trail. Because of this, we downloaded the AllTrails map ahead of time and found that to be super helpful!
If you don’t have a map downloaded, you can also refer to the maps in the Visitor Center, which can help you find the Onyx Bridge (a fallen, petrified tree) that the hike is known for. We met other hikers on the trail who stopped at the 1-mile mark, which coincides with the end of the clearly-marked trail. If they had downloaded a trail map ahead of time, they might have been more comfortable continuing.
After the first mile on the trail, there is a downhill section that heads from the rim to the riverbed. This was a bit hard on Elliot’s knees, so we recommend hiking poles for anyone who needs assistance with the elevation, either up or down.
The riverbed may or may not have water in it, depending upon what time of year you visit. If you’re visiting during monsoon season (mid-June to late September), we would stay away from this trail if any rain was in the forecast or if has just rained the previous day.
Once you’re almost at the Onyx Bridge, you have to climb up some rocks to actually reach it. Our favorite part of the hike was this last quarter mile—it was absolutely filled to the brim with huge petrified logs! If you’re up for the challenge, and have more than just one day in the park, we really recommend making time for this longer hike!
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 4 miles (6.4 km)
Time: 2 to 2.5 hours
Type: Out-and-back
8. Giant Logs Trail
Just outside the Rainbow Forest Museum, you can find the Giant Logs Trail, a quick and easy hike that takes you to (you guessed it!) a giant log! This isn’t a must-see hike in the park, but if you have more than a day and are in the area, it’s a pleasant, quick stroll and one of the last popular hikes (and not just an overlook) in Petrified Forest National Park.
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Time: 30 minutes
Type: Loop
9. Scenic Overlooks at Petrified Forest National Park
Besides the trails, we mentioned that there are even more gorgeous overlooks and roadside attractions along the entire Petrified Forest Scenic Drive. While you can find the full list in this related article, we’ve listed 5 of our favorite spots below, pinning their locations in the Map of Petrified Forest as well.
- Tiponi Point: Amazing views of the painted hills from this viewpoint!
- Hózhó Point Picnic Area: Great views, specifically if you’re able to score an after-hours pass to go stargazing in the park.
- Route 66: Petrified Forest National Park is the only national park that has the original Route 66 actually running through it! Stop at this pull-out to see a 1932 Studebaker car.
- Newspaper Rock: Here, you can find over 650 petroglyphs covering the rocks in the area, left by the Puebloan people as long as 2,000 years ago! The viewpoint is a short walk from the parking lot and has several binoculars set up.
- Jasper Forest Viewpoint: Although this viewpoint technically is a short trail, it leads you to one of the largest collections of petrified wood in the entire park!
With offline maps, wrong-turn alerts, and extra planning features, make the most of every outside adventure with AllTrails Plus. Get 7 days of AllTrails Plus for free!
🗺️ Map of Petrified Forest Hikes (& Important Stops)
How to use this map: We have saved the locations from this guide on this map. You can save this map to your Google Maps by pressing the star icon. In your Google Maps, click the menu icon and then Saved Maps, where this map will appear.
☀️ Best Time of Year to Visit Petrified Forest
In our opinion, the best time of year for visiting Petrified Forest National Park is during the spring or fall shoulder seasons, when daytime temperatures are comfortable. You’ll find that there are fewer crowds and non-blistering temps—the best of both worlds! Here’s what you can expect from each season:
- Spring & Fall: When we recommend going, Spring and Fall in the Petrified Forest offer comfortable daytime highs in the mid-70s °F (18-24 °C), fewer crowds, and less chance of rain. This would specifically be March to May and October to November.
- Summer: This is the peak season in the park, from May to August. Beyond the higher temperatures (90°F, 32°C and above) and crowds, June 15-September 30 is monsoon season, so keep the possibility of heavy rains in mind if you can only come in the summer months.
- Winter: Winters in the Petrified Forest are mild compared to many other national parks, with daytime highs often in the 50s °F (10-15 °C) and cooler nights. Snow is rare but still possible. The park is much quieter during this season, so if what you’re looking for is solitude, this is still a doable time to visit!
🥾 Packing Essentials for Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park is known, above all, for being sunny. There is little to no shade in the majority of this park, so sun protection is going to be the most important thing to keep in mind when packing. Below, we’ve listed what we recommend you pack for a trip to Petrified Forest National Park.
Hiking Essentials
Read next: Hiking Gear for Beginners!
Sun Protection
Safety Essentials
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🔍 Ready to Visit Petrified Forest National Park?
Pin this guide to the best hikes in Petrified Forest National Park to make your upcoming trip a breeze to plan!
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