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Text: Petrified Forest National Park Audio Tour on star trails above park sign.

Podcast

Petrified Forest National Park Audio Tour, North Version

General welcome and instructions on using the Petrified Forest National Park Audio Tour.

Episodes

Season 1

Episode 21

PEFO Audio Tour North Stop 21

Transcript

Blue Mesa Blue Mesa rises above a purplish plain marked with curving washes, the escarpment banded in blue, purple, and gray. Three divisions of the geological layer known as the Sonsela Member are visible at Blue Mesa. From bottom to top, they are the bright white sandstone called the Camp Butte Beds, which are found near the base of the mesa. The middle called Lot's Wife Bed composed of blue, gray, and purple mudstones, and numerous small gray and white sandstones. And the uppermost, the Jasper Forest Bed consisting of white cross bedded sandstones and conglomerates with water rounded pebbles and cobbles. The Jasper Forest Bed contains the logs that can be seen eroding out of the hillside around Blue Mesa. The sandstone layer caps Blue Mesa, Agate Mesa, and the Mesa north of the Rainbow Forest. The Sonsela Member is approximately 215 to 219 million years old.

The colorful layers in the Chinle Formation represent ancient soil horizons, the variety of hues due to the presence of various elements and minerals. While the red and green layers generally contain the same amount of iron and manganese, differences in color depend on the height of the groundwater table when the ancient Triassic soils were formed. If the water table was high or nearer to the surface, the sediment's decreased access to oxygen caused the iron minerals in the soil to reduce into a greenish or bluish shade. The reddish soils, on the other hand, were formed where the water table fluctuated or shifted lower, allowing the iron minerals to oxidize or rust when exposed to higher levels of oxygen. That knowledge tells us that when the northernmost portion of the Painted Desert was formed. The water table was lower indicating a drier climate with well aerated oxygen-rich soils.

Two off the beaten path trails can be taken from the Blue Mesa Road, Billings Gap, and the Red Basin clam beds. Billings Gap runs along the northern edge of the Mesa, while the Red Basin clam beds trails along the base of the southern side of the Mesa.

The Sonsela Member at Blue Mesa, including the banding and colors of the Painted Desert.

Location: Blue Mesa

Episode 22

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Transcript

From Blue Mesa to Agate Bridge In the late 19th century, ranchers took advantage of the vast grasslands. This land would forever after bear the mark of grazing. In 1884, the Holbrook Times noted the whole northern portion of the territory seems to be undergoing a great change. Our plains are stocked with thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep. The Aztec Land and Cattle Company, one of the largest ranches in North American history, occupied much of the land in northern Arizona. Some of their infamous cowboys were even linked to the Pleasant Valley War, rabble rousing in Holbrook, and train robbery. Cattle grazed in petrified forest until the late 1950s. Private ranches still boarded the park, and there are several active grazing leases on the newer park land.

Drive between Blue Mesa and Agate Mesa and the history of ranching.

Location: Agate Mesa

Episode 23

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Transcript

Agate Bridge

Agate Bridge has always been one of the most popular stops in the park. In the early days, the over 100 ft long log graced postcards, posters, books, and was even touted as a wonder called Natural Bridge. No doubt there are many old vacation photos of people standing on the bridge, which is now off limits. One legend is that a cowboy was bet that he couldn't cross the bridge on his horse. The cowboy supposedly won. The partially exposed petrified log spans a gully that features a small waterfall during a heavy rain. funded by the railroad, masonry buttresses were built beneath the suspended log around 1903. Concrete pillars followed in 1911, finally to be replaced by the existing beam in 1917. After over 100 years of choosing to leave the support system as it was built in 1917, the beam is seen as an artifact that illustrates the changing philosophy of the National Park Service. Now, we're allowing the log and beam to erode at its natural pace, rather than attempting to maintain the gully spanning structure.

Stop and walk the short distance to Agate Bridge. Please remember for your safety and the protection of the resource to not walk out onto the petrified log.

The history of Agate Bridge and changing philosophy of the National Park Service.

Location: Agate Bridge

Episode 24

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Transcript

Jasper Forest In the 1890s and early 1900s, this area was called First Forest, as it was the first stop for tourists from the closest community and train depot in Adamana. Today Jasper Forest is a spectacular landscape with high concentrations of petrified wood still eroding from the surrounding formation. Hikers can follow the faint remnants of an old 1930s road built by the Civilian Conservation Corps that once led to the popular formation known as Eagle Nest Rock. Unfortunately, on a particularly wet winter night in January of 1941, the delicate base of Eagle Nest rock finally became too fragile to uphold the hoodoo and crash to the valley floor.

The CCC road that once navigated Jasper Forest.

Location: Jasper Forest

Episode 25

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Transcript

Crystal Forest Crystal Forest was originally called Second Forest, as it was the 2nd site reached by horse or wagon from Adamana. It is one of the largest accumulations of petrified wood in the park. These logs are weathering out of the geological layer known as the Jasper Forest Bed of the Sonsela Member and have been dated to around 216 million years. Many of the fossil logs also show signs of human caused damage, which is consistent with old stories of logs being blown up with dynamite to access the glittering crystals.

Stop at Crystal Forest and take the 3/4 of a mile walk through this Triassic logjam.

Exploration of Crystal Forest short

Location: Crystal Forest

Episode 26

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Transcript

From Crystal Forest to Mile Marker 24 Approaching Mile Marker 24 brings you to the original boundary of the monument set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The monument was established to preserve and protect the Mesozoic forest of petrified trees using the Antiquities Act. Since then, science has been an integral part of the work at Petrified Forest National Park. Some early advocates included Annie Alexander, her partner Louise Kellogg, and Dr. Charles Camp, a paleontologist from the University of California at Berkeley. Their exploration found that trees were not the only fossils preserved. An entire ecosystem continues to be explored by visiting and in-house researchers from the spectacular crocodile-like phytosaur to tiny early mammals, towering coniferous trees to delicate ferns.

Early science at Petrified Forest Location: Flattops

Episode 27

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Transcript

Mile Marker 24 The southern pullout at Mile Marker 24 is the access point for the southern unit of the Petrified Forest National Wilderness Area, where backpackers can park overnight. It is also a great spot to start a day hike with interesting landforms all around. This pullout overlooks the geological layer known as the Jim Camp Wash Beds of the Sonsela Member. The overlying brown strata are the Miocene and Pliocene aged Bidahochi Formation. The fossils of an Artiodactyl, a group of even-toed hooved mammals that include giraffes, elk, bison, and camels from the Bidahochi was discovered near here in 2009, one of the few non-Triassic aged fossils recovered from the park.

Fossils in the Bidahochi Formation

Location: Hamilili Point

Episode 28

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Transcript

From around 1.8 million years ago to present during the Pleistocene and Holocene, windblown sand and alluvium deposited by flowing water covered much of the older rocks of the park. Note the different types of plants that grow in the dunes next to the pullout compared to the rough textured badlands nearby. These dune deposits are largely stabilized by vegetation, especially grasses, and a favorite location for wildflowers like spectacle pod and snowball sand verbena.

Dune habitat

Location: Hamilili Point

Episode 29

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Transcript

From Mile Marker 24 to the Rainbow Forest Museum The Rainbow Forest Historic District was the heart of the original Petrified Forest National Monument. One of the earliest facilities in the park was a wood and tar paper shack near where the current museum is located. Doctor Albert Einstein visited Rainbow Forest in March of 1931. A few months later, the park began to design a new museum, headquarters, and park residences. The building of Rainbow Forest occurred between June through December 1931. Later, in 1934, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was built in the Rainbow Forest to work on roads, trails, bridges, and more residences. There were two other camps in the park.

Rainbow Forest history

Location: Rainbow Forest

Episode 30

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Transcript

The Rainbow Forest Museum The museum at Rainbow Forest features fossils and casts representing animals that lived here over 200 million years ago. A mural takes you back in time to the period when the geological layer known as the Blue Mesa Member was deposited. Some of the fossil animals found within the park include Phytosaurs, Aetosaurs, Placerius, Metoposaurs, and Rauisuchians. Given the immense diversity of fossils in the museum, even the most devoted dinosaur fan can likely find new creatures to get excited about. Plant fossils such as ferns and cycads are also represented in the exhibits of the Rainbow Forest Museum. The museum also celebrates past exhibits, including a historic mural painted by the renowned paleo artist Margaret Colbert in the 1970s, and a diorama created by some of the Civilian Conservation Corps members with staff from the University of California at Berkeley in the 1930s.

Visit the Rainbow Forest Museum.

Location: Rainbow Forest Museum

Episode 31

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Transcript

Thank you for joining the audio tour of Petrified Forest. These snippets of the natural and cultural history hopefully will give you a desire to learn more about the many facets of this park. There are maintained trails and off the beaten path routes to explore, a designated wilderness to discover, scientists to visit, and a night sky filled with stars for those who return to petrified Forest National Park.

Thank you for taking the northern version of the Petrified Forest National Park Audio Tour!

Location: South entrance.

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