Petrified wood delights many people who enjoy examining and collecting interesting rocks. The color and texture can be amazing, and it’s wild how what once was living wood was transformed into hard rock.
Where can you find it in the country outside a museum or gift shop, though?
Following are 12 good places– just know that in almost all of them, collecting specimens is illegal.
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
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Probably the best-known place in the country for seeing petrified wood, this national park is easily accessed from I-40 near the town of Holbrook. Specimens range from shards and small pieces to gigantic logs. Many have beautiful crystals in them, though poachers have stolen a lot of them over the years.
Dobell Ranch, Arizona
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If your visit to Petrified Forest leaves you wanting some specimens of your own without being overcharged for them in a gift shop, you can go to nearby Dobell Ranch to do that. With a reservation, you can go in and dig for your own pieces or buy pieces already excavated for you.
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
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There is petrified wood scattered about large sections of Yellowstone. One easy place to see it is on a marked road spur to a petrified tree (a large, still-standing stump). Another is on Specimen Ridge, which has a trail across its top. Be aware that whether you find petrified wood on or off a trail here, it’s illegal to collect it, and rangers will issue steep fines or even arrest you if you’re caught.
Absaroka Range, Montana-Wyoming
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The Absaroka Range is the largest and broadest mountain range in the Yellowstone region. There’s a lot of petrified wood out there, including a petrified forest several miles up Frontier Creek near Dubois. A lot of the range is on federally protected wilderness or in Yellowstone. You can only legally collect specimens outside such designated areas.
Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming
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Fossil Butte in southwestern Wyoming is most famous for its rich marine fossil record. However, there’s a lot of petrified wood out there as well. This is another place where you can enjoy seeing and photographing it but you can’t take it.
San Rafael Swell, Utah
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The San Rafael swell is a vast sandstone wilderness in central Utah bisected by I-70. Petrified wood isn’t all over the place here, but you will occasionally find it in desert washes or on hillsides. One such place is near a prominent conical feature called the Wickiup. Much of the Swell is managed by the Bureau of Land Management but not federally designated wilderness. Petrified wood in those areas is legal to collect.
Wolverine Wash, Utah
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Wolverine Wash contains a large concentration of petrified wood in the federally protected Wolverine Petrified Wood Natural Area. You can get to a trailhead for this wash via a dirt road off the Burr Trail near the tiny town of Boulder.
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah
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At this state park, you can see logs that were buried under mud flows and petrified millions of years ago. An easy loop trail allows you to view many of the best specimens. There’s a campground here as well, and it serves as a great base for exploring this beautiful area.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
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This remote and lesser-visited national park known mostly for its colorful badlands and free-roaming bison has the third-highest concentration of petrified wood in the country. A trail system leads to two separate sections where there are especially good concentrations, including gigantic stumps.
Lemmon Petrified Wood Park & Museum, South Dakota
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This unusual destination, which is free to the public, owes its existence to the abundance of naturally occurring petrified wood in the county where it’s located. The park’s creator had wood specimens from around the county transferred here, and now there are sculptures and a museum constructed with petrified wood.
Mississippi Petrified Forest, Mississippi
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There isn’t a lot of petrified wood naturally occurring in the East, and this is one of the exceptions. This privately owned park charges an admission fee, and once you’re in, you can hike a nature trail to view petrified logs and smaller pieces. Collection isn’t allowed, but you can buy souvenirs in the gift shop.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park, Washington
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This state park along the Columbia River also includes the Wanapum Recreational Area. After discovering petrified wood here in the 1930s, people worked for the creation of a state park to help protect and preserve it. Specimens from more than 50 species of trees have been found here.
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