The Petrified Forest

There are lots of sights to see in the Petrified Forest National Park besides petrified wood.  There are petroglyphs and ancient Indian ruins and a place called the teepees.

Newspaper Rock is pretty amazing:

These designs were pecked into the rock as much as 2,000 years ago.  They say these rocks tumbled down here, but it doesn't say how "they" knew that.  It's lucky that it landed right-side-up so we can understand them (maybe.)  There are markings throughout the Petrified Fored in the "varnish" of the rocks.  This particular one has more than 650 designs.  It is at the bottom of a cliff, inaccessible, and far enough away that maximum zoom on the camera was required.  There are several telescopes fixed on the platform so everyone, even those without camera or binoculars have a chance to see them.  

Archaeologists have worked extremely hard uncovering these walls.  We need to appreciate that fact. This is what the whole site would have looked like thousands of years ago.

There are petroglyphs in this area, too.  It's beautiful here.  A nice place to spend some time.

Obviously these folks did not live in teepees.  Teepees were what nomadic American Indians used for housing.  They weren't farmers, and so did not have to stay in one place.  They would fold up their tents, gather their goods onto travois, and move with the animals that they hunted for food like the buffalo (American bison).

Regardless, the Park has named one location the Teepees.  They look more like they should be in the northern portion of the park, the Painted Desert.

Finally, we get to the Forest...