Tawa Point

Tawa Point is a scenic overlook above the red side of Petrified Forest’s Painted Desert, about 1.5 miles from the north entrance. It gives you a sweeping look over striped badland ridges and flat-topped mesas, and it’s an easy place to pause on the north-to-south drive. The parking lot takes cars and buses or RVs, including some pull-through spaces; wayside exhibits and a bike rack are here too. The viewpoint is marked wheelchair accessible.

Tawa Point is one end of the groomed Tawa Trail, 1.2 miles one way to the Painted Desert Visitor Center. It meets outdoor developed-area accessibility standards; its typical grade is 2.3%, with sections up to 8.3%. Since it’s point-to-point, plan your return before you set off. A second trailhead at the overlook starts the Painted Desert Rim Trail.

Keep some near ridges low in the frame and let the red-and-cream layers run out to the higher mesas. That captures how the badlands fold and stack across the view better than zooming in on one hill.

These hills are mainly Chinle Formation rock, laid down by rivers in the Late Triassic, more than 200 million years ago. The stripes reflect changes in iron chemistry as ancient groundwater levels shifted. From the northern overlooks, you can also look toward the Hopi Butte Volcanic Field, one of the world’s largest concentrations of maar landforms, craters formed by explosive encounters between magma and groundwater.

The point takes its name from Tawa, the Hopi Sun Spirit. In Hopi belief, Tawa is the Creator who formed the First World from Tokpella, meaning “Endless Space,” and created its original inhabitants.