Petrified Forest National Park - July 27, 1996 - Member Trip Report

Hike Name: Petrified Forest National Park
Country: United States
State: Arizona
Trip Rating: 2 stars
Trip Date: July 27, 1996
Duration: 2 hours
Trail Conditions: Fair to Good
Trail Traffic: Light to Moderate
Trip Weather: Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy
Trip Winds: Light
Trip Precipitation: None
Trip Temperature: High: Over 100, Low: 71-80 degrees Fahrenheit
Trip Report: 7/27/96 (Saturday) – Mackie and I were mobile by 9am (or so we thought this morning). It turned out to be 8am since Arizona doesn’t have Daylight Savings Time here (like Indiana). We drove to the Grand Canyon this morning, grabbed some breakfast at the lodge on the North Rim then took in the sights. We intended to stay and do some hiking or backpacking here, but it was over 100 degrees in the canyon and the park rangers were not letting visitors hike between the hours of 10am and 2pm.

So Mackie and I left the Grand Canyon and headed for Flagstaff, AZ to the Arizona Sunbowl by 3pm. We debated on taking the lift to 9500 feet and doing a 4.5 mile overnight hike to Arizona’s highest point at 12,000 feet. But a wicked thunderstorm rolled through the area as we were discussing the hike, and we jumped in the car and drove back to Flagstaff for dinner at a Pizza Hut.

Our side trip to the Petrified National Forest was a spontaneous decision on which we discovered that they did not have any campgrounds on the park premises. We ended up driving to Gallap, New Mexico and Red Rock State Park which was a really nice place, and we hit the showers here then crashed out. We saw a coyote on the way out of the Grand Canyon this afternoon, and a very large rabbit in the Petrified National Forest this evening but that was the extent of wildlife during our travels today.

Hiker:

Mackie


2,600 points


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