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Painted Desert & Petrified Forest National Park

I-40, exit 311, Navajo, AZ
Phone: 928-524-6228

East < GO > West

The east entrance to Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert is located at I-40, exit 311. There is a visitor center with a number of items for sale and a GREAT video showing some of the history of the park. There is also a cafe with another gift shop here.

The Painted Desert Inn was built in 1924. It's no longer an Inn, but it is open to the public as sort of an additional visitor center. Special events are held here from time to time.

This is a view from the Painted Desert Inn. There are plenty of informational signs at the view points as you travel through the park.

This is the spot inside the Petrified Forest National Park where history meets the highway. In the background you can see I-40 The telephone poles a bit closer follow the abandoned roadbed of historic Route 66 at this point, the rusty old car is a vintage that commonly traveled the old road, the plaque in the foreground commemorates Route 66.

There are many observation parking areas as you drive through the park. It's a 28 mile drive, so if you stop at every observation point plan on spending several hours in the park.

Crossing I-40 brings you into some of the most colorful parts of the Painted Desert.

Photo(s): 2009, 2012