Guided Activities

Guided Hike below Pintado Point into the Painted Desert

NPS

Guided Activities

The year 2024 gives a new beginning to possible activities. We featured our popular backcountry hikes, touch tables at the museum, plaza, and on trails, and the paleo demo lab continues to connect scientists with the public. Be sure to check our social media pages (scroll down on any page to the links on the lower right) for information and events. Also, watch for roving rangers and volunteers in areas like Puerco Pueblo and Crystal Forest for on-the-spot information including show and tell items to share!

 

Making Art in the Dark
Tuesday May 14, 2024 11am
Meet Artist-in-Residence Paul Atkinson
Painted Desert Visitor Center

Come meet Artist-in-Residence Paul Atkinson, who specializes in night sky landscape photography. See his work in progress under Petrified Forest National Park’s dark night skies and learn about the growing threat of light pollution.

Meet the Artist-in-Residence: Emma Aylor
Saturday May 18, 2024 11am
Painted Desert Visitor Center Plaza
(or inside the center based on weather)

Emma Aylor is a poet from Lubbock, Texas, and the author of Close Red Water (Barrow Street Press, 2023), winner of the Barrow Street Poetry Book Prize. Her work explores how landscape interacts with memory, identity, and experience. In her first book, the place was rural Virginia, where she grew up; more recently, she has written about other regions in which she’s lived, like the Pacific Northwest and West Texas; and currently, she is fortunate to be writing about Petrified Forest National Park as Artist-in-Residence.

 

Ranger Program at Giant Logs, people gathered around a petrified log with a ranger.

NPS/Hallie Larsen

Discover Rangers and Volunteers in the Park!

Keep your eyes open for one of our Interpreters out on the trails, the plaza, museum, or at overlooks. We love to answer questions and share the park's many stories. You might find us with touch tables, too!

 

Dig with a paleontologist

NPS

Petrified Forest Field Institute, a Park Partner

Petrified Forest Field Institute--offered by the non-profit museum association--is proud to offer guided tours and field classes exploring fun and compelling subjects lead by world class guides and experts. https://www.petrifiedforestfieldinstitute.org/ This is not a government website or institution.

 

Cellist at Blue Mesa

NPS

Artist-in-Residence Program

In the Artist-in-Residence Program selected artists spend time living and working in the park, sharing their experiences with visitors.

 

Cultural Demonstrators Montage

NPS

Cultural Demonstration Program

The Cultural Demonstration Program at Petrified Forest National Park provides local artisans with the opportunity to share their cultural and historical connections to the region with park visitors.