Hiking In The Blue Forest?
Have you ever been on a magical hike? A hike that brings you back into the past, perhaps when the earth was forming, and there was a lot of mud and ash on the ground. This mud and ash has hardened since and has created an amazing landscape for your hiking pleasure. It is open land and you could see as far as your eyes can take you.
Do you like to find unique trails, even ones that are not “true trails?” Have I the place for you! Have you been to the Petrified National Forest, located in northeastern Arizona? It is not a forest of what you may think of. It does not have trees, believe or not. But, It does have remnants of what the forest once looked like, thousands of years ago. This particular trail is rated easy, but will require wilderness finding skills and patience.
Yes, you can walk on this soft, clay structure.
The Blue Forest Hike is a trail that starts out easy and flat. This trail is an old road from the 1930’s. It has since closed and is now an off beaten trail for hikers. At first it is a road marked with brown rocks (follow the brown rock road!), nothing too exciting. But, you know how it is when you go somewhere, sometimes the best to see is in the middle or the end? Well, it was for us. We finally started to ascend and got our hearts pumping.
I could not believe what I saw!
When you step up these hills, the landscape does an amazing change. I was shocked to see the brilliant colors of this landscape! Blues, greens, purples! I felt like I landed on the moon, with the exception of gravity and air, as the landscape reminded me of what the moon looks like. Is this Arizona? I was so excited to see something different, something unique, something to write home about. That was my first thought when I saw the beauty before me. But also be careful as there are sinkholes, whether large or small all around.
Mighty windy at the top!
After many photos were taken by yours truly, we walked on some more. This place has a tendency to be windy and it did not disappoint us. The wind was ferocious. Forget good hair days as you will not have any at this place. We climbed up to another hill, and this was by a “zig-zag” trail. A word of caution: if it is too windy, you will have a hard time on the top of these higher hills. The skinny path leaves you feeling vulnerable as it is not that flat. Proceed with caution!
This trail connects to the Blue Mesa Loop trail, which is a paved trail that is a 1 mile trip around with plenty of scenery. If you want to extend your hike, include this trail as well. If not, just turn around and head back to your vehicle. This is an out and back trail, not a loop trail. It is very easy, with the exception of the tallest hills to climb. I would like to say this is one of the most adventurous and beautiful trails I have been on. Since there is no signage, with the exception of a few small wooden poles, walking on the brown rocks will keep you on track.
Here is a link to the Petrified National Forest. They can give you paperwork to help you with any off-beaten trails. If you are looking for something unique, something different than your typical hikes, I highly recommend to check out the Blue Forest Hike at the Petrified National Forest!