Hike Onyx Bridge and Angel’s Garden Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

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OCT 2024 UPDATE: Onyx Bridge has collapsed! I confirmed with a ranger this happened sometime within the last few years due to natural causes. It's still a cool feature, but no longer resembles a bridge.

Petrified Forest National Park is located within Arizona's Painted Desert, where the stunning overlooks of colorful hills made me want to wander around the backcountry and locate countless fragments of petrified wood, dry washes, and color-banded sand hills look almost otherworldly.

From the Painted Desert Inn (no, it’s just a preserved historic inn, so you can’t actually stay there), I headed down to the desert floor along a well-beaten trail. I hiked directly north through the badlands, without following any specific route since there was no formal trail. After some time, I reached Lithodendron Wash, a wide watercourse that was unmistakable. I followed it east until it curved north, then veered left into a narrow drainage that was easy to miss if you weren't watching closely, as Lithodendron Wash curved away to the east. The narrow wash was incredibly tempting to explore on its own. Once within the side drainage, I followed a right fork until a steep slope brought me into the badlands above, where Onyx Bridge lay across a small drainage.

From Onyx Bridge, I continued southwest for a while through bright white lumpy badlands in order to reach Angel's Garden, an area packed with scattered pieces of petrified wood and a brightly-colored desert floor. After a bit of time exploring the nooks and crannies around Angel's Garden, I headed south to check out Gregory's Stump. From here I continued south to Lithodendron Wash and picked up the trail back up to the Painted Desert Inn.

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Heading down the trail from the Painted Desert Inn.

At the desert floor, just before the trail sort of starts to fade.

Along the way to the Lithodendron Wash, there's some cool rock formations.

Lithodendron Wash, hard to miss. When you get to the wash, follow it to the right.

Lithodendron Wash cruves around a bit.

Great colors on all the random hills.

View back toward Lithodendron wash.

Cracked dirt on the banks of Lithodendron Wash.

Entering a side drainage from Lithodendron Wash to reach Onyx Bridge.

A big stump, pretty cool.

Onyx Bridge!

2024 photo: Onyx Bridge collapsed!

Onyx Bridge from above.

Some random overlapping big pieces of petrified wood.

Crystals within a piece of wood.

I found a mistakenly-labeled on maps "Onyx Bridge" farther north.

Heading south toward Angel's Garden.

Bright badlands near Angel's Garden.

Angel's Garden is full of petrified wood.

You'll know you're there when there's a ton of it concentrated between two small washes.

A cut-up tree in almost perfect alignment.

Overlooking Angel's Garden on the way south.

Another random tree. This is located right near Gregory's Stump.

Gregory's Stump!

Footprints in the muddy Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert Inn is up on top of that ridge in the distance.

Enjoying the view.

Panorama of the Painted Desert.

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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I’m not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!