Parking
Use the fourth pullout on Blue Mesa Loop Road beside the People and Change wayside. The farther pullout with a shade shelter is beyond the trailhead.
Overview
About Billings Gap Overlook Loop
Why go
- A full rim circuit with views of Billings Gap and eroding hoodoos
- Changing badland views instead of retracing the same approach
Heads up
- Unreliable tread makes navigation part of the hike
- Exposed, soft-soil edges leave little margin near the drop-offs
Billings Gap Overlook Loop is a 3.5-mile clockwise circuit around Blue Mesa's rim to a viewpoint above the colorful badlands east of the mesa. The park describes it as about 3 miles; the mapped full rim loop comes out closer to 3.5. Allow about 2½ hours, and more if route-finding or photo stops slow you down. The view is worth the effort, but this isn't a marked, dependable path. Pick it if you're comfortable navigating on open ground; skip it if you want a well-defined tread or are uneasy near steep edges.
Parkwolf’s verdictIs this hike for you?Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Petrified Forest map
Full mapElevation5,580–5,635 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Petrified Forest alerts
- ClosurePainted Desert Visitor Center closed for constructionThe 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
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Petrified Forest Tour Guide
Your drive to Billings Gap Overlook Loop, 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 tourRecorded for this trailhead
Blue Mesa's Banded Hills0:00 / 0:31
“You're coming up on Blue Mesa, where blue-gray and lavender hills fill the basin below the rim. I'd stop for the overlooks even if you don't want a hike; you can see the colored bands from above.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Petrified Forest Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Logs’ Clean Breaks
- The Tepees Roadside Views
- Ravens at Play
- Blue Mesa’s Restless Clay
- 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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Billings Gap Overlook Loop
Start in the right placePark at the fourth pullout on Blue Mesa Loop Road, by the People and Change wayside.
Park at the fourth pullout on Blue Mesa Loop Road, by the People and Change wayside. The trail begins about 25 feet to the right of that sign; the farther pullout with a shade shelter is past the start. The park's direction is to stay near the mesa edge and go clockwise. The social tread fades in and out, so bring the park's route directions and be ready to navigate through grass, loose sand, and occasional rock.
The rim and the overlookEarly in the loop, the north-facing escarpment opens onto branching washes and hoodoos breaking…
Early in the loop, the north-facing escarpment opens onto branching washes and hoodoos breaking off the mesa edge. Softer layers erode beneath harder caprock; once the caprock loses support, the edge collapses and drops talus below. Billings Gap Overlook is about halfway around the circuit. The return follows the opposite rim south toward the road, with broad views over badlands and grassy valleys. This is a route for looking from the rim, not climbing down into the formations.
Sand over ancient rockThe return side crosses younger sand dunes at the southern end of the Tusayan Erg.
The return side crosses younger sand dunes at the southern end of the Tusayan Erg. Those Quaternary deposits sit over the much older Late Triassic Chinle Formation, whose eroded towers rise beyond them. The Billings Gap area joined the park in the 2004 boundary expansion; archaeological and paleontological discoveries in those lands are now protected.
Practical detailsThere's little shade and no water in the backcountry, so bring what you need before leaving the…
There's little shade and no water in the backcountry, so bring what you need before leaving the road. Day hikes here don't require a permit. Park rules allow pets outside buildings; keep dogs on a leash no longer than six feet. The pullout has parking and the wayside exhibit, but no food or water service.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Petrified Forest
185 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
172 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
100 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
33 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
35 sightingsGunnison's Prairie DogMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
56 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Petrified Forest. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
