
Park at the pullout spot where Blue Mesa Road splits and walk back a short distance to this barrier. Petrified Forest asks not to park on the side of the road.

Along the authorized vehicles only road for a short time.

Yay, open desert!

I don't usually take photos of petrified wood here because there's so much of it, but this one was particularly colorful.




I found a way up onto the mesa for a better view.

Along the mesa rim for a bit.


Found a way down off the mesa.


Through open desert toward the Clam Beds.

A long line of fence posts without any fence.

The Clam Beds are on the other side of this mesa.

Clam Beds coming up.

Clam Bed fossils!




Leaving the Clam Beds.

That butte looks like it's throwing up rocks. The desert is lonely. I need to entertain myself somehow.

Some cool rocks.

Through the open desert toward Red Basin.

A small wash leading into the Red Basin.

Photos don't really show it, but this section is super pretty.

Really gorgeous colors.





Some hoodoos.

I'm naming this spot Ruby Field. Bright colored rocks on mini pedestals.



Entering a section of black mounds with lots of scary-looking sinkholes. The sinkholes only go down no more than 10 feet, but there are enough of them that I was freaked where I was standing could collapse.


Finding my way out of the maze of black mounds.

Some sinkholes.


A wash out.

Back in the northern end of Red Basin.


Looking back at Red Basin before my loop around.



Open desert for a while, looping around a big mesa.


Some cool petrified wood on my way back before completing the loop.
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