We enjoyed our recent visit to the Petrified Forest, located in northeastern Arizona and spreading through the state’s Navajo and Apache Counties. A mile high in elevation, the site holds thousands of fossil remnants of mature trees, some as unbelievably old as 335 million years.

When you examine them close-up, you can still see the original bark and wood grain, but it is all now solid rock. The area, managed by the National Park Service, is about 40 miles long by 15 miles deep.

Backpackers, campers and hikers find the desert weather dry and mild most of the year, except for some 30 degree nights from November through March. Rainfall averages less than an inch a month. However, there can be as much as an inch and a half each in July, August, September and October, usually in the form of sudden thunderstorms.

For more information about the Petrified Forest, go to nps.gov/pefo