ParkwolfGet the app
North Entrance Station in Petrified Forest National Park

Entrance station · Petrified Forest National Park

North Entrance Station

The fee booth before the park's 28-mile drive south.

Type
Entrance station
Nearest trail
1 mi
Audio stories
10 nearby
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Painted Desert Visitor Center, Diner and Oasis

Overview

About North Entrance Station

Why stop

  • Direct entry from I-40 to the park road.

Heads up

  • A functional checkpoint, with little reason to linger.

Map

Where it is

Loading the Petrified Forest map
Full map
Entrance stationNorth Entrance Station35.06673, -109.78178
Keep this map with you offline in the Parkwolf app

Plan your stop

Before you go

2 active Petrified Forest alerts

  • ClosurePainted Desert Visitor Center closed for constructionMentions this placeThe Painted Desert Visitor Center is closed for construction; visitor-center operations are at the Painted Desert Inn, two miles past the north entrance station.Official details
  • ClosureAgate House closed to visitorsAgate House is closed to the public because of physical safety concerns; stay at least 15 feet from the structure. - The closure remains in effect until terminated in writing by the park.Official details
Petrified Forest alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Petrified Forest Tour Guide

Your drive to North Entrance Station, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Petrified Forest National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Petrified Forest audio tour

Recorded for this area

Painted Desert Visitor Center, Diner and Oasis
0:00 / 0:35
“You're nearing the Painted Desert Visitor Center, with the Diner and Oasis alongside it. This is a useful stop for a meal and fuel.”

Plays on the road 0.1 mi from North Entrance Station in the Parkwolf Petrified Forest Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • Tiponi Point’s Basin View
  • Camels on the Wagon Road
  • Nizhoni Point's Missing Time
  • Tawa Point and the Rim Walk
  • 35 audio storiesacross Petrified Forest’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Pronghorn, Mule Deer, Coyote, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 16 trails, 33 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
JMJamesApp Store review
Download Parkwolf on the App StoreGet Parkwolf on Google Play

4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about North Entrance Station

At the north entranceNorth Entrance Station is the fee booth on the north side of Petrified Forest National Park,…

North Entrance Station is the fee booth on the north side of Petrified Forest National Park, reached from I-40 at Exit 311. The park requires an entrance pass, and this is the fee station for the road into the park. It sits on Petrified Forest Road at the start of the north-to-south drive.

The drive through the parkThe main park road runs about 28 miles from this north entrance to the south entrance on US 180.

The main park road runs about 28 miles from this north entrance to the south entrance on US 180. If you're entering from I-40 and heading through, this is the checkpoint before the drive farther into the park.

A separate stop nearbyThe Painted Desert Visitor Center is a separate place a short distance south of the booth.

The Painted Desert Visitor Center is a separate place a short distance south of the booth. Its nearby map listing can be easy to confuse with the entrance station, so use the north-entrance location when navigating to the fee point.

entrancefeesparkroad

Wildlife

Wildlife in Petrified Forest

All Petrified Forest wildlife maps
Pronghorn185 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapMule Deer172 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapCoyote100 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapWapiti33 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapGunnison's Prairie Dog35 sightingsGunnison's Prairie DogMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapPorcupine56 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 7 PMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Petrified Forest. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near North Entrance Station

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

EasyPainted Desert Rim Trail1 mi · 36 min · 1 mi awayA short rim walk to layered Painted Desert viewsEasyTawa Trail1.2 mi · 30 min · 1 mi awayA short prairie walk to a bright Painted Desert overlook.ChallengingWilderness Loop8.2 mi · 7 hr · 1.2 mi awayFossil forests and rock art on a serious route-finding loop.ModerateOnyx Bridge Hike4 mi · 2.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayAn unmarked wash route to a 210-million-year-old petrified conifer.ModerateDead Wash Overlook Hike4 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.4 mi awayA faint route across striped badlands to a wide wash view.

More stops nearby

Gas station · 0.1 mi awayPainted Desert OasisA handy north-gate stop for fuel, snacks and Painted Desert souvenirs.Restaurant · 0.1 mi awayPainted Desert DinerA convenient diner with Navajo tacos at the park’s north entrance.Visitor center · 0.1 mi awayPainted Desert Visitor CenterA Mission 66 visitor center within a desert community of 23 buildings.Sight · 0.4 mi awayTiponi PointJust inside the entrance, your first sweep of the Painted Desert.Scenic pullout · 0.7 mi awayTatáypi PointA quick pullout where red badlands meet a black basalt rim.Sight · 0.7 mi awayNizhoni PointA roadside overlook with a 192-million-year gap in the rock record.Sight · 0.9 mi awayWhipple PointA quick pullout for Painted Desert layers under dark-capped mesas.Sight · 1 mi awayTawa PointA broad Painted Desert view with an accessible trail to follow.

Parkwolf’s Petrified Forest ranking

Top sights in Petrified Forest

All 33 places
  1. 1Blue Mesa OverlookSight
  2. 2Giant LogsSight
  3. 3Crystal ForestSight
  4. 4Painted Desert InnSight
  5. 5Rainbow Forest MuseumSight
  6. 6Kachina PointSight

Take Parkwolf to Petrified Forest.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Download Parkwolf on the App StoreGet Parkwolf on Google Play