Parking
Tawa Point and the Painted Desert Visitor Center are the listed trailheads. The route is point-to-point, so walking back to your starting end makes it 2.4 miles; parking layout and capacity were not verified.
Overview
About Tawa Trail
Why go
- Wide developed path through open grassland
- Tawa Point gives the walk a strong Painted Desert view
Heads up
- Returning to the starting end makes the walk 2.4 miles
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Petrified Forest map
Full mapElevation5,771–5,856 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Petrified Forest alerts
- ClosurePainted Desert Visitor Center closed for constructionMentions Painted Desert Visitor Center, referenced in this guideThe 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 Tawa Trail, 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
Tawa Point and the Rim Walk0:00 / 0:30
“You're coming up on Tawa Point, an accessible overlook across red-and-cream badland ridges and flat-topped mesas. The point is named for Tawa, the Hopi Sun Spirit.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Petrified Forest Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Painted Desert Inn and Kachina Point
- Tiponi Point’s Basin View
- Hózhó Point Picnic Stop
- Pintado Point's Wide Desert View
- 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 Tawa Trail
A short prairie routeTawa Trail is a 1.2-mile one-way walk between Tawa Point and the Painted Desert Visitor Center.
Tawa Trail is a 1.2-mile one-way walk between Tawa Point and the Painted Desert Visitor Center. It crosses shortgrass prairie at the park’s north end, with the best payoff at Tawa Point’s broad view over the red-and-white Painted Desert. Allow about 30 minutes one way; walking back makes it 2.4 miles and roughly an hour. It’s an easy way to get a little trail time between overlooks.
The prairie and the viewThe broad, developed path crosses open grassland and has a bench along the way.
The broad, developed path crosses open grassland and has a bench along the way. The park describes the tread as hard-surfaced, though the exact surface material is not consistently documented; check before setting out if continuous pavement matters to you. Wildflowers make the prairie especially interesting in season, but no specific bloom timing or species is established. At Tawa Point, leave some of the nearest ridged ground in a wide photograph so the layered badlands have scale.
A name with a storyIn Hopi ideology, Tawa is the Sun Spirit, the Creator of the World.
In Hopi ideology, Tawa is the Sun Spirit, the Creator of the World. It’s a meaningful name for a walk whose main experience is this open stretch of desert grassland and the view at its end.
Access and effortThe park says the trail meets outdoor-developed-area accessibility standards, with a typical…
The park says the trail meets outdoor-developed-area accessibility standards, with a typical tread width of 60 inches, a typical grade of 2.3%, grades up to 8.3%, and no obstacles. Pets are allowed on leash. The route is used year-round during park hours; there is no separate activity fee or reservation, though park admission may apply.
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.
