The Petrified Forest is most surprising National Park I’ve visited yet. Below is the story of how I was forced to crawl to my car, made completely false assumptions about what I was seeing, realized I was wrong, and how the experience is making me reflect on my life more broadly. Read on below…
I was tired when I got to this park and the weather was awful. It was clear storms were near and as I entered my car was shaking the winds were so strong. Though it wasn’t raining yet, the wind alone made being outside feel like I was one of those weather reporters you see on TV giving the live updates on a nearing tropical storm as their clothes flap about this way and that. At one point when I opened my car door the door leapt out of my hand and slammed open the rest of the way so violently I was afraid it’d rip off. Later, determined to push ahead no matter what, I decided I’d go on a short 1 mile hike. I only got about 500 feet from my car. Afraid I would fall over, I had to drop to the ground and (literally!) crawl back to my car.
Despite that - the park was full of surprises - for instance, despite the name “Forest” in the title - it is in the middle of an arid desert. I saw only a handful of live trees in this entire park. The park covers 260 square miles, with a single 30 mile road running through it. There is almost no available hiking. And despite the name “Petrified Forest” - you don’t see a single petrified log until you are past halfway through the the drive. I drove through in about an hour (including stops).
I stopped at the museum at the end of the 30 mile road mostly because I had to use the bathroom. But - wow - am I ever glad I did! After spending 40 minutes in the musuem, I finally realized what I’d been looking at and got to see the petrified wood up close. The painted desert isn’t just “neat looking” - it is a visual record of our geological history, choke full of fossils of flora and fauna. Moreover, the different colors in the hills aren’t just beautiful - each layer is a record of MILLIONS of years of history. And the “scattered rocks” above the sand… that’s the petrified forest! When I’d been driving through the first time I’d been disappointed that there seemed to be so little of the forest left. Now I realized it had been all around me and I didn’t even realized it.
Behind the museum there is short trail (somewhat sheltered from the wind) that cuts between hundreds of petrified logs (some tens of feet long others barely stumps). The fact that the shapes of the petrified logs (which have been above ground and exposed to the elements for MILLIONS of years) are indistinguishable from a log fallen a year ago is incomprehensible to me. I loved getting near them and studying their shapes and colors.
This knowledge and experience changed everything about the park for me.
Rather than exiting onto the highway after finishing with the museum, I turned around and went backward, in order to drive the entire 30 mile road again. This time I went much, much more slowly, and saw everything in a new light. The decision immediately felt heavenly ordained when a rainbow spread across the sky.
As I left the park the whole experience got me thinking - how many times in my life have I rushed through something, believing myself to have “done it”, but actually having missed it? How many times have I’ve been so pleased with myself for the speed at which I arrived at my insight - seen true - but also completely missed what matters?
Every day of this trip I feel like the universe has been giving me an opportunity to confront my old stories and ways of being. In so doing, it’s giving me a choice - stay as I was, or change; hold onto my old beliefs, or let them go. For someone who is tempted by fear based decision making and wants to control - this is hard work! However, what I’m learning is that when I let go of my expectations, of my initial “insights”, of my need to control other’s perceptions of me, or my need to get to a conclusion quickly, and instead, simply sit with whomever (or whatever) I am with - and open myself to whatever they want to reveal - life is so much richer!