Thursday, December 8, 2022
I arrived at Petrified Forest around 3PM. I tried to text Laura, but it would not go through. Cell access is spotty around here. I drove to the visitor center, and I was texting Laura when she pulled up next to me. Synchronicity once again. We drove back to camp, and we connected the van to the 30 amp power. I made some Mac and Cheese for myself, and we had dinner outside. Well, we had dinner outside for a little while. It started to get pretty chilly, so we moved into the van.
Friday, December 9, 2022
We went to the gift shop, here at the RV place, around 8:30. That place has quite an inventory of products related to Petrified Forest National Park. They have so many pieces of polished wood, which looks like polished stone, as the wood is filled with minerals that give it characteristics normally found only in stones or concrete products. It is all worth a small fortune. I saw some things that I thought I might buy, but I was hesitant to pull the trigger. I wonder if I could find similar items less expensive in Holbrook? It might be worth checking it out.
We did three hikes today, each with a different length and terrain. The first, at around 9:30AM, was Crystal Forest. It was mind-blowing. These petrified logs look so much like wood, yet are so much like stone. Many are brightly colored due to the mineral content. There is a huge variety in color from “log” to “log” as well as within some of them. There are small pieces, even what looks like wood chips in some places, and there are huge logs with diameter in the four-to-five-foot range. Some of the trees are long, over 40 feet, and have been broken into segments by the force of weight. In one place, it looked like someone had chopped a log into several pieces and scattered them across the ground. Truly amazing. It was not too long along this walk that I realized how unique this place was, and that coming up here was a very good idea. Seeing it today was very different than how I saw it when I came here years ago, 1984, on my trip west.
Next we drove to the Blue Mesa Overlook. Fantastic Vistas!
The second hike was the Red Basin Clam Beds. Most of the walking was along a dirt road. All along it, there were small examples of petrified rock. I think Laura said it was as if there were jewels someone had tossed alongside the path. There were also places where the road was wet, evidence of rain not long ago, and in some of these places there was mud. It was of the type that would stick to the bottoms of our boots. We were also told there was quicksand in the park. This is due to the type of sand and clay in the soil. We actually were told that the hike we originally planned to do, the seven-mile Wilderness Trail, had a wash that needed to be crossed, and that there was quicksand in that area. So, we switched to the Red Basin hike. We walked about 2 ½ miles to reach the “clam beds”. The area was quite amazing. We found what appeared to be red clam fossils in some of the rocks. And in many places the ground was littered with stones and small pieces of petrified rock. These pieces, hundreds of them populating areas like sand on a beach, were as if glued to the earth. The mix of the soil and clay was like a natural cement. In addition to the fossils and the small stones and wood pieces on the sand, there were large rock formations of sediment, layered in multicolored strata, a range of tans, browns, purple-violet, and blue. All in all, we thought it was so beautiful, such a terrific hike.
I told Laura, as we hiked the 2 ½ miles back to the car, how glad I was that I came up here. It has been an experience as good or better than all of each of the other ones we have shared on this trip. All the wonderful views, photos, natural setting, and time spent together. Later, we talked about it again. She said how she felt a little bad, or maybe a little funny, asking me to come up here. She had the awareness, that it would be an unplanned 200 mile drive each way, including the cost of the gas, and that her original premise for coming up herself was to give her some alone time to get some things straight in her mind and/or heart. She said after the first day here, she had done that, quicker perhaps than she thought. Well, I am glad I came up. I told her that I thought it was the right thing to do, even if some of the logic was not quite there. We also had some more good, heart-to-heart talks about things in our lives, which was great, seeming to enlighten our understanding of why we out here on this travel quest and tighten our bond.
Our third hike was at Blue Mesa Trail. It was a wonder. The rock formations so filled with wonderful colors. There was a short bridge over a narrow piece of land, then a steep incline led down to a valley among towering, colorful formations that looked like sand dunes. The late afternoon sunlight was magnificent. The walk we took was slow and simply so enjoyable. Laura’s camera battery was done, so we used my camera, and took scenic photos and also some photos of each other. We also took a couple pics accentuated by our shadows standing together, the result of a quickly descending sun towards the horizon.
After that hike, we headed back towards the visitor center. There was probably more we could see in the park, yes, but it was getting on towards sunset, and we wanted to ask about some paw prints Laura found in the sand, of which we had obtained a photograph. The ranger we had seen earlier in the day, who was so helpful in telling use about hiking opportunities, was still there. We told her how fantastic the hike to the Red Basin Clam Beds was. We could not say enough about it. She told us it was her favorite hike in the park. We showed her the photo of the animal prints. She said it looked like it was a porcupine! How about that?!
Laura and I came back to the campsite. I had a dinner of peanut butter and crackers and a bowl of Cheerios. I had been planning to have beans and rice again, but I just did not feel up to a big meal … so … and then I had a cup of tea.
Wow. It was quite a day … 😊
Saturday, December 10, 2022
It is an early start to the day for me. I went to bed last night at 9PM, and I fell to sleep after three or four songs on my laptop. I slept well, seems like straight, uninterrupted until 1AM, when I got up to use the bathroom. It was 25 degrees out, a beautiful, moonlight night. But 25 is way too cold! I came back in and got back in bed. I woke and rose from bed at 5AM. It was down to 20 degrees. I turned on the van, heat blasting, for about 30 minutes, as well as utilizing my small electric heater. I think Laura’s car was turned on, too. When she does get up, it will be warm in here for us to sit and have our coffee and tea morning ritual. We will see how things develop with regards to time. We are driving down to Picacho Peak State Park to camp tonight and Sunday, then we will go to Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson, for four nights. So, the next six nights are set, and after that, we will head to Organ Pipe Cactus NM.
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