Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Just west of town lies Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, where an ordinary looking hillside is scattered with the stone remains of a forest that grew here well over one hundred million years ago. During the age of dinosaurs, great trees fell and were buried in mud and volcanic ash. Over ages, mineral rich groundwater seeped in and, molecule by molecule, replaced the wood with silica, a slow process called permineralization that turned living timber into stone while preserving the grain, the rings, and even the bark.

The colors are the astonishing part. Iron and manganese and other minerals stained the petrified wood in reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and blacks, so that a broken log can look like a slab of polished rainbow. A one mile loop trail climbs through the deposits, and a steeper spur called the Sleeping Rainbows trail leads to some of the most colorful pieces.

At the foot of the park sits Wide Hollow Reservoir, built in nineteen fifty four to store irrigation water for Escalante's farms. Today it is stocked with rainbow trout and draws boaters, paddlers, and campers to its quiet shoreline. The visitor center displays not only petrified wood but fossilized dinosaur bone, ammonites, and ancient shells, a fitting introduction to a corner of Utah where deep time is never far beneath your feet.