Pinetop, AZ - March 12 - 19, 2011

We spent a week in the White Mountains at Pinetop, Arizona. I worked on blogs, timeshare reviews and Quicken. We did things on facebook, read some and Bob did some cross-stitch. One day we drove to Petrified Forest National Park. The round trip was about 200 miles but it was worth it. We entered the park on the south side and drove through to the north end on a 28-mile park road. We watched the video at the Museum and got our passport stamped. We walked a trail of Giant Logs.








We stopped at Crystal Forest and hiked the .8 mile loop. This was a paved trail that had colorful petrified logs that had once held glassy amethyst and quartz crystals. I think one of the most interesting things was how the long logs seemed to be cut by a saw. But it was nature that actually did it.






The Agate Bridge was at another stopping point. It is a petrified log that spans a 40-foot-wide ravine where 111 feet of the concrete-supported log are exposed.

We drove a loop road called Blue Mesa that had views of badlands, log falls and pedestal logs.


The main road went through an area that they called The Tepees. According to the information the white layers are sandstone. “The cap of The Tepees is clay. Dark layers are caused by high carbon content. Darker reds are iron-stained siltstone. Reddish bases are stained by iron oxide, which is also called hematite.” The stripes were so interesting to see.


Our next stop was Puerco Pueblo which is a partially stabilized 100-room pueblo built about 1250 and is believed to have housed nearly 1,200 people.

There were also many petroglyphs on the side of the hill.


After we crossed under I-40 there were many viewing points to stop and see the Painted Desert.







There was also the Painted Desert Inn National Historic Landmark which is no longer used as an inn but was beautiful to see.



We leave Pinetop in the morning (Saturday, March 19) and head east back into New Mexico but further south to Alamogordo and Carlsbad.