An easy, paved walk behind the Rainbow Forest Museum that introduces visitors to an excellent grouping of petrified trees, including some of the largest and most colorful in the National Park. A log known as “Old Faithful” measures almost ten feet wide at its base!

For first-time visitors to Petrified Forest National Park coming in from the south entrance, the Giant Logs Trail is a great introduction to what the park has to offer. The Rainbow Forest Museum (hours change seasonally) has fantastic exhibits on the park’s geology and human history, both ancient and modern.

And then, right behind the Museum, you can hop onto the Giant Logs Trail for a very quick trail that will take you right to some of the park’s choice petrified wood.

This is a very short and very easy trail to follow (although there are some sets of stairs that prevent it from being fully accessible). You’ll meander around and between some huge, extremely well-preserved petrified conifers, eventually reaching the nearly-10-foot-wide “Old Faithful” near the top of the hill right behind the museum.

‘Old Faithful’

After you’re done getting a good lay of the land here, consider walking through the parking area and down to the Long Logs / Agate House Trails to make this more of a full-fledged hike. And the head deeper into the park to explore even more!