ADVENTURE 10: Findings in the Stone Forest (Petrified Forest NP)

Saturday, 21 May 2022, Petrified Forest NP

Joy is that kind of happiness that does not depend on what happens. - David Steindl-Rast

Do you have a hobby or a sport that you would like to pursue in a national park site, but don't know which parks promote that interest? The NPS touts a website that will help you find your match! At www.findyourpark.com, you can search for parks (be they National Parks, Monuments, Historic Sites, or the rest) that specialize in your avocation. The site lists 29 different activities, with thrill levels ranging from whitewater rafting to shopping (sorry, Sandy, 'getting lost in a swamp' did not make the cut).

Given that the NPS is dedicated to preserving their sites, they don't allow such activities as hot-air ballooning or zip-lining in their parks, since they would require added infrastructure to implement. However, it surprised me to find that geocaching WAS on the list, since it generally requires leaving non-natural items in the parks. Of the thirty parks listed under 'geocaching', twelve are National Parks. (Hmmm... Congaree is listed. Maybe they should place a geocache at Maczyk's Cut...)

By the time I found this out, I had already assigned an adventure to eleven of those parks - all but Petrified Forest (PeFo). Since 'make smores over a petrified campfire' would certainly draw frowns from the PeFo rangers, I matched it with geocaching instead. Now I faced a new issue: how does one geocache?

I had never looked into the hobby before, so I needed a tutorial. Luckily I had cousins that have geocached for years, so I called up Wally and Renee and they gave me a primer. "Go to geocaching.com and register with them. Then you can search for geocaches that others have placed in different areas. If you find one, you can go online and register that you found it. For some caches, you can also take a trinket from inside the container and leave a trinket to replace it."

That sounds ... doable. I think. I wanted to really prepare for it, though, so I did my homework the night before. Geocaching.com did not allow me to use 'Petrified Forest' in the search line, so I tried Holbrook (the nearest town). Plenty of caches listed, but none as far out as PeFo. Oh, but I can change the 'within this distance' field to 35 miles, then look for caches 20-30 miles to the east or northeast ... bingo! Eight hits! I wrote down the GPS coordinates and hints in my journal, ready to try my hand at this.

It turns out that geocaching was likely THE best activity for this park. Most people drive through the park on the only road, stop at the pullouts, take a short hike among the stone logs - the park map lists only a half-dozen hikes, all but one a mile or less. Since the geocaches are hidden at the pullouts or parking areas, I decided to spend the day stopping at each pullout.

Upon entering the park from the south, I found myself at the Giant Logs complex:

a visitor center, store, museum, and two trailheads. And a geocache, somewhere... I stopped in the Visitor Center/Museum and told the ranger about my task, but she knew nothing about geocaches. I took a few minutes to look around inside. One display talked about the PeFo curse: those who steal a piece of petrified wood shall find themselves beset with bad luck. The museum had posted letters from a couple of those thieves who had returned their booty to rid themselves of the curse..

(I saw no follow-up as to whether their bad luck disappeared after returning it.)

I stepped back out into the pleasant weather - the temperature had not yet hit 80° - and wondered where the cache could hide. The hint said to 'look behind'. Okay, behind what? Behind the stop sign? Behind the port-a-potty? Behind the trash can? Behind the ... OMG, there it is! Woohoo!

The flush of success brought a broad grin to my face - I can do this! I opened the Altoids tin with the 'official geocache' label and signed the tiny log sheet inside, then carefully replaced the cache in its hiding place. Will they all be this easy?

With my spirits high, I strolled along the 0.4 mile Giant Logs loop trail. The various logs and stumps gleamed with iridescent colors, the trail running beside and through the collection.

For the first time this trip, a smattering of clouds dotted the sky, lending contrast to my photos. (Not enough clouds to provide shade, but they were still there.) One particular relic took center stage: 'Old Faithful'. This broken-up log runs 35' end-to-end, 10' across at the base, and weighs 44 tons.

The wife of an early park superintendent gave it its name, reasoning that it was to Petrified Forest what Old Faithful geyser was to Yellowstone - the keystone attraction.

Across the road sat the trailhead for the Long Logs/Agate House Trail. Since that is the longest marked trail in the park (1.6 or 2.6 miles) and it has no geocache hidden there, I skipped it for now. If I had enough time later, or came back to the park tomorrow...

Crystal Forest - the next pullout hosts the trailhead for a 3/4-mile trail through a larger assembly of logs. Geocaching.com lists this spot as having a 'virtual cache' - no one has placed a physical cache here. Instead, it asks the question, "How many years ago were these trees living?" An interpretive sign gives the answer, "218 million years ago." The searcher can then go online to register the answer, along with a selfie taken there to prove he or she visited the site. Not as exciting as finding a physical cache, but it adds to the variety.

This trail provided far more logs than the Giant Logs Trail.

Seeing these massive remnants of a prehistoric forest gave me pause to think about that far-away time and the creatures that inhabited it.

Jasper Forest - a quick stop at a panoramic view of another collection of stone logs. Not as up close and personal as you get on the hikes.

Agate Bridge - a short stroll to a stone log where the ground beneath has eroded away. NPS added a concrete support to keep it from collapsing.

Blue Mesa - this turnout takes the visitor on a 3.5 loop road with several pullouts and a 1.0 mile steep, paved trail. I elected to save this for later or tomorrow also.

The Tepees - More a wide spot in the road than a pullout, in an area with interesting hills.

The geocache clue read, "look in back." I used the same approach as my first cache, and quickly found the Altoids tin in back. I'm getting the hang of this...

Newspaper Rock - look down from an overlook into a jumble of rocks containing several hundred petroglyphs up to 2000 years old. Without binoculars (and due to lighting), I found them hard to see. This spot also had a virtual cache, asking the question, "Why are the recently exposed rocks not as dark as the boulders that have the petroglyphs?"

Puerco Pueblo - a 0.3-mile paved trail that circles the ruins of an ancestral pueblo.

It also took me by a petroglyph that many people misinterpret.

A quick look by a modern American may see it as a stork delivering a baby - but archaeologists insist it represents an ibis eating a frog. The dots underneath are drops of water...

Route 66 - I looked forward to this as the only slam-dunk geocache on my list. I had seen pictures of the rusted shell of an old Studebaker by the side of the park road, sitting on the original road bed of Route 66.

The hint on geocaching.com, after decoding it, read, "Please stay UNDER the speed limit, and always stay to the RIGHT so no FENDER benders." Easy enough, right? Other than figuring out the 'right' side, and front or rear fender. I waited for the people taking photos to drive off before approaching the car, getting on my knees, and looking underneath. First the passenger front fender, then rear, then the driver's side - can't see anything. I return to the passenger side while more tourists pulled up, and scrounged around again. When I popped back up cacheless, I surprised a woman who was framing a photo from the other side. "Oh! I didn't see you!" she said.

Missing the cache disappointed me. The clue was explicit. Someone must have taken the cache - I've heard that happens at times. On that down note, I continued down the road into the Painted Desert half of the park.

Lacey Point - the rest of the road drives by several overlooks into the Painted Desert. The first bears the name of Rep. John F. Lacey, who played a major role in the growing movement to protect the landscape.

He sponsored laws allowing prosecution of poachers in Yellowstone, and protecting plants and animals from illegal takings. Most importantly, he authored the Antiquities Act of 1906, which gave presidents the power to protect land as National Monuments without having to go through Congress. The second time he used that power, Teddy Roosevelt set aside Arizona land as Petrified Forest National Monument, eventually expanded and promoted to National Park status. Lacy richly deserves to have a viewpoint named for him.

Whipple Point - in 1854, Lt. A. W. Whipple surveyed this area, and noticed the dry wash which ran through this land of petrified wood.

He thus named it Lithodendron Wash, which translates to 'Stone Tree Wash'. As a lover of words, I adore the term - it feels lyrical.

I passed three more desert overlooks before reaching the Painted Desert Inn. This icon of the park resembled a jewel in the desert, a great example of what they call Parkitecture - buildings designed to fit in with their surroundings.

It had a checkered history - the original owner rented rooms in what he called the Stone Tree Inn, in the days before the park was established. He built it using petrified logs, but (because of bentonite in the soil) the foundations soon cracked. He sold it to the NPS, who tore most of the first building down and rebuilt it in the southwestern style using CCC workers.

This new incarnation opened in 1940, with six bedrooms that were perpetually booked by travelers. By 1942, with WWII gaining steam and the bentonite causing more problems, it closed again. After the war it re-opened , but was run by the Fred Harvey Company, and used for housing of its train workers. Today it stands as a museum to the Golden Age of Travel, with rooms set up as they appeared in the 1950s.

The next-to-last cache resided in the kitchen of the Palm Desert Inn - the hint mentioned 'butcher block'.

When I entered the Inn, I immediately saw the butcher block table. Hmm... could it be in the table's drawer? Bingo!

Happily back on the winning side, I walked through the museum, reading the posters. Marveling at the furnishings. Imagining the days when visitors would flock to the soda fountain.

Gazing out the windows, looking at the desert floor far below me.

"This is a great spot for sitting and looking at the summer thunderclouds building," a voice behind me said. I turned to see Ranger Halle sitting at the information desk, a wide smile on her face.

"This whole inn is a great place," I answered. "It really sets the atmosphere back to the 1950s."

"I love the attention to details in here. Check out the skylights - aren't they impressive?"

We chatted for a while, and I mentioned my geocaching exercise. "Did you find the one in the butcher block?" she asked.

"I did! But I missed the one in the Studebaker. I wonder if someone took it. Do you know who in the park handles them?"

"Actually, I help do that. Bill, our Chief of Resource Management, started the program here - he figured it could help make the park more popular. So you say it isn't under the fender?"

"Unless I missed it. I got down and looked under all four fenders, saw nothing."

"Well, sometimes they do get taken. I'll have to stop by after my shift and check it myself, and I'll leave a note for Bill."

As we talked further, the topic of hiking came up. She encouraged me to try a wilderness hike, descending the cliff behind the inn to reach the desert floor.

"You can hike out to Onyx Bridge, another petrified log perched over a streambed. Though it has partially collapsed, it's still worth seeing."

"But I heard there are no marked trails down there. Do I need a GPS device to find my way?"

"Not at all!" She reached into a drawer and pulled out a few pages stapled together. "Here are the directions, with pictures of what you'll see along the way. It's a great hike."

That settled it. I would return to the park tomorrow, try the hikes I had deferred, descend to the wilderness, and try the Studebaker again. I thanked Halle, and headed to the car to finish my day. Kachina Point lay next to the Inn, but I planned on hiking the Desert Rim Trail between Kachina and Tawa points tomorrow, so I drove to the final overlook for a stab at the final geocache.

Tiponi Point - geocaches are ranked on a 1-4 scale for both terrain and difficulty. All the caches I had tried so far rated 1.0 on both scales; the new cache came in at 1.5 on both. The instructions were explicit:

1) Park in the Tiponi Point pull-out. (N35° 04.327' W109° 46.784'

2) Walk out to the juniper tree (.1 mile) to the east at N35° 04.338' W109° 46.677'

You are on the old rim drive, the depression in front of you is the old road bed.

3) Hike (.05 mile) to N35° 04.351' W109° 46.625'

You should see the old road clearly now. Raised and marked with dark gravel and remnants of asphalt.

4) Hike (.07 mile) to the cache site at N 35° 04.383 W 109° 46.567 following the old road bed. The cache is on the road.

The old Route 66 road is visible to the east and is now used for park administration.

Enjoy the view of the Painted Desert to the west!

I could see the only juniper tree, so I walked across the scrubby landscape to that point. I could see no visible trail indicating others had been there. But now where? The coordinates told me to head northeast, but I again saw nothing that looked manmade, no asphalt, no road bed. I wandered around aimlessly, looking for anything. No luck.

Since I had not traveled far from the Painted Desert Inn, I returned to see if Halle had any hints. She could only suggest using my phone by starting the Google Maps app and entering the coordinates, to see if that would help. I scheduled my homework for tonight, to practice doing that, and vowed to try again in the morning. Then I headed to the Visitor Center to knock off the final geocache before heading to my hotel.

Heck of a day. On our nightly phone call, I told Sue, "I had such a great time, I'm going to do it again tomorrow!"