Day 2, Petrified Forest
Hélène and I travel a lot. So I know that petrified wood can be found all around the world. But I have never seen... never heard of... an entire petrified forest, except the one in Arizona. It's the sheer volume of petrified wood that overwhelms the visitor. It's not a petrified tree or two or three. It's a whole petrified forest!
Trees collapsed in every direction... and were buried in the mud.
They have been stone since before T-Rex.
People ask who cut or broke the trees into such neat segments. No one, of course.
Wood is a flexible material - it will bend under a lateral effort. Quartz just breaks!
The colors are enhanced here, but a bit of water will reveal exactly the same.
Various metallic oxides give color to the quartz.
This blue, in shadow, looks almost luminous. I'd love to see what UV light would do...
Tree-rings are not individually distinguishable, but there are groups of rings.
I'd guess that they corespondent to several consecutive years of similar rainfall and temperature.
The Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest are in a single US Park Service National Park. Three Stars in the Michelin Guidebook.
Bob Nelson: What exactly "petrifies" the trees. What are they afraid of?
And it breaks in a specific pattern, which is why most of the pieces look as if they had been cut with a chainsaw.
Michelin had a gift for understatement. This park should rate at least four.
That place is really beautiful Bob, and your photography makes it even better.
In addition to the ''pertrified forest'' and it's beauty the colors are just stunning.
''Three Stars''....Time for a re assesment of their rating. A Four for sure, bordering on a five.
Great photos Bob.
TTGA and Kavika,
Three stars is the highest rating in the Michelin Guide. It means "worthy of a special trip". Two stars is "worthy of a detour". One star is "other attractions"... and then there are all the sites that are mentioned, but don't get any stars at all.
If you're planning a trip, ViaMichelin is a great ressource.
LOL, well then I think that it should be a Three plus plus...
Yep, even then, those places still deserve four or five. Michelin needs to set up a higher rating just for places like this. The step above thre stars should read "You'll regret it all your life if you miss this one". That, by the way, would include me. In 1972, my wife and I were returning home from California just before my last deployment. We had a 30 day leave, but wanted to spend as much time as possible with our families, so we blew right past them down US 66, enroute to Wisconsin and Michigan. Haven't ever had a chance to get back. After these pictures, we might just make a special effort.
I remember that when I was a little kid my parents toured that area of the USA and brought me back a little block of petrified wood, about a 2 inch cube. I kept it as a special fascinating item for many years, but I guess it eventually got lost through time and many moves. I don't know if it was illegal for them to remove it from the forest. It's possible that if it were not illegal, it may at least have had some spiritual significance with consequences for removing it, such as bad luck, which I triggered by bringing home a piece of lava rock from Moana Loa.
Related info on the California Petrified Forrest which is privately owned and has the largest known petrified trees in the world that date back to the Pliocene age.
Note from their front page that they recently purchased some Arizona petrified materials for their Gift Shop (which apparently burnt down in the Tubbs fire )
Good story Bob