Petrified Logs

This western stop is a fenced display of colorful petrified tree trunks, reached on a short interpretive loop. It’s a good brief pause if you want a closer look at Valley of Fire’s fossil story; the payoff is several specimens rather than one log beside the road. Allow about 15 minutes for the 0.3-mile loop, with roughly 45 feet of elevation change.

The loop begins from a parking area at the end of a signed gravel access road off Valley of Fire Highway. Its first stretch skirts a low ridge without any logs; the first enclosure is about a tenth of a mile in. Continue north to the later fenced specimens, which show more of each trunk above ground. Interpretive panels explain what you’re seeing. For a close photo, the later displays give you more exposed wood and colored cross-sections to work with.

Mineral-bearing water filled tiny spaces in the buried wood and left the trunks stone-like while preserving their grain. Iron and manganese minerals account for many of the vivid colors in the exposed ends. The logs’ exact age and tree species aren’t clear from the available evidence, so the patterns and colors are the sure thing to look for.

Valley of Fire has an annual full-park closure from December 1 through 14.