PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK | Episode 2 | Jasper Forest, Agate Bridge & Blue Mesa

Visiting Petrified Forest National Park and wondering what there is to see and what stops are worth it? We venture from South to North and break up the overlooks and trails to help you plan your trip.
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Welcome to the second in our four-part series covering Petrified Forest National Park. In this episode, we continue north from the South Entrance and see the dense collection of petrified wood at Jasper Forest, peer at the Agate Bridge, and finally stop at some overlooks of Blue Mesa ending with a short hike down into the mesa itself.
Petrified Forest National Park is located in Northeast Arizona near Interstate 40 east of the town of Holbrook. The park is filled with excellent examples of petrified wood dating back about 220 million years. The process of petrification occurred when the now extinct trees toppled over into a river and were buried under layers of silt, mud, sand, and volcanic ash. The minerals from these layers, combined with the water, saturated the trees and bonded with the wood cells eventually replacing the wood.
Our first stop is to Jasper Forest, one of the densest collections of petrified wood in the park. As large as the number of specimens is, imagine it with even more examples. Throughout time, pieces of the petrified wood have found their way into the hands (as well as carts and buggies) of visitors. In fact, it is this theft of pieces that aided in the establishment of Petrified Forest National Park as a national monument in 1906.
Next, we head over to Agate Bridge, a 110-foot petrified log that has formed a bridge after centuries of erosion by water washed away the soil from under it. Reinforcement had to be constructed over time to keep the massive and incredibly heavy piece of petrified wood safe but if you stand at the right angle you can imagine what this wonder looks like spanning the gap. Walking across it is forbidden now but can you imagine what it must have been like at one time?
Finally, we end off looking at a number of overlooks at Blue Mesa. Here things are starting to look a lot different from the landscape further south. Fewer petrified logs are seen and instead, colorful hills begin to rise from the desert ground. You are now entering the badlands area of the park. The views are spectacular as you gaze out onto striped layers of purples, blues, greens, and greys. A lot of time (220 million years!) have created these hills. To end things off, we dip down into the badlands and stroll through a 1-mile trail that loops next to these impressive layers.
VIDEO FILMED: 07/03/2020
▬▬ R E L A T E D V I D E O S ▬▬
⚪ Hiking Bell Rock - • HIKING BELL ROCK | Cla...
⚪ Episode 1 - • PETRIFIED FOREST NATIO...
▬▬ L O C A T I O N I N F O ▬▬
⚪ Petrified Forest National Park - www.nps.gov/pe...
⚪ Directions to Petrified Forest National Park - goo.gl/maps/nY...
▬▬ T I M E S T A M P S ▬▬
00:00 Intro
00:38 Jasper Forest
01:53 Agate Bridge
05:00 Blue Mesa Overlooks
09:10 Blue Mesa Hike
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking and day trips as well as campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!

[@tpseeker3367]

Ugghhhh so much to take in. From the ground to the clouds you capture so much. The colors of the sedimentary layers is just just merrffff.

[@doxielover2814]

This landscape is so much prettier than the badlands in South Dakota. It has so much more color. Loved it.

[@CactusAtlas]

If you like the landscape, keep watching! We explore more in the Painted Desert/Badlands area in some future videos. Even a sunset!

[@Soopertraveler]

Amazing and interesting landscape. Great way explore the beautiful desert landscapes. Great production.

[@CactusAtlas]

There's definitely not a shortage of variety here. LOL. Thanks for watching! 😊

[@markgorton5865]

I've never seen anything like those Badlands, that was amazing. Thanks for taking us on another adventure.

[@CactusAtlas]

We've got more where that came from. 😉

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

Very cool trip 😎👏

[@CactusAtlas]

It really was. Thanks for watching!

[@harseik7354]

You need more views, my dude. Wonderful visual production, sound, and narration!

[@CactusAtlas]

Wow! Thank you so much! 😊

[@SwiftyTravels]

Such a beautiful area! It does take lots of time to enjoy all of it!! Thanks for the tour!

[@CactusAtlas]

It does! The park is huuuuuuge. When we've gone in the past we typically have just stopped at two places and moved along to other sites in the area. It's really hard to fit into a day.

[@gstiles7]

wow that is truly a spectacular place!

[@CactusAtlas]

It is! There is simply so much to see due to the size of the place.

[@VenthehairStylist_0930]

Amazing landscape I've ever seen, very nice content the best captured so that's why I fully watched this video very informative too. New friend here.

[@CactusAtlas]

Hi and welcome! Thanks so much for watching and the comment. 😄

[@candymcclure2476]

I never did see that natural bridge. WOW! Gramma Candy

[@CactusAtlas]

Fascinating, isn't it?

[@candymcclure2476]

We were there in the mid 80's but we missed the pedestal bridge. Maybe we didn't to the north area. Gramma Candy

[@HappyPlaceCamping]

We went back in March. But we couldn't drive all the way through because of road work at the bridge so we had to turn around and go back. We didn't go all the way around to see the south end due to time restraints. But it was really cool what we did see of it. We were glad we stopped. Funny that people see you talking to yourself and move on LOL. I know I've had some strange looks. It happens.

[@CactusAtlas]

Yeah, the park is HUGE. It's a long way to drive around to get to either side if you have to travel back the way you came in and go around to the other side. Road work is necessary but it's unfortunate that many people had similar experiences to yours and missed parts of the park. I always wonder what people think seeing someone talking to themselves (or rather a camera). Before vlogging I never really saw too many people doing it so I can't speak for myself. Are they disturbed or simply just wanting to get away from being on camera. I always wonder....

[@HappyPlaceCamping]

@@CactusAtlas Haha possibly a little bit of both. But I'm thinking most are wanting to get away from being on camera. But it is a good way to make people keep their distance when you want them to lol

[@kreggossmer2029]

😎👍👍

[@svongsa]

87 views, really?! It should be like 87,000 views!!!!!!

[@CactusAtlas]

LOL! Maybe one day! While 87k would be nice, we'll take what we can. Thanks for the comment (and laugh)! 😂

[@kreggossmer2029]

1k, today! 😎🙌👊

[@fatmanhikes]

Ok, I was there in June, did that hike, real glad you hiked it, beautiful place, i said this in your other video that you need to check out the aliens on newspaper rock! Dig your videos.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks as always! We have part 3 coming up where I visit newspaper rock as you will see next week most likely. I didn’t learn about the aliens until you mentioned them last time, after my visit. So, in the video, you will see that I appear underwhelmed, mainly because I was not able to zoom in with my camera and the petroglyphs were in the shade and hard to see. Since then I recently saw some other pictographs with what appeared to be very alien-like figures in Utah. Those I filmed and you will also see them soon. But, when you see my visit to newspaper rock, be warned that I overlooked some key things and comment that it didn’t seem that great, but I am walking back that statement a bit in advance. I look forward to going back and checking it out again! Some of the stuff those old cultures carved/painted is very strange indeed!!!!

[@Gains_Monsoon]

Were these petrified trees cut into logs and stumps after they were petrified and found in modern times or were they found already looking like they were sawed? Because if they were sawed off millions of years ago. Ancient civilizations!

[@CactusAtlas]

Likely they petrified and broke apart due to water elevation changes, ground movement and such.

[@jeffreyhawker9042]

Bastards locked the gate off I-40 when I stopped in May, COVID-19, horse hockey, a road closed, unbelievable. Drove to the south gate, it too was locked. Why do they need rangers at this park? I was ok with the gift shop being closed, but the road???? There is a paved hiking path through Blue Mesa.

[@CactusAtlas]

I cannot say what the conditions were to close the park. I'm sure there were concerns and a need for rangers to be safe as visitors could easily stop and wander off. Having to potentially rescue anyone in trouble could put employees at risk. Just guessing the reasoning... can't really say. I do know there was a lot of road and bridge work being done as well. The Blue Mesa Trail is the one that we hiked and filmed at the end of this video.