Rocky Vacation Destinations

There’s a reason I work in the Hardscape Center amidst the limestone aggregate and the concrete pavers... I’m easily distracted by rocks.  (...as you might remember from my previous Sticks & Stones article) It makes perfect sense that my vacation time allows me to get closer to some monumental formations.

On a recent trip to Arizona I was able to check two places off of my bucket list.

The first story begins 50,000 years ago when a meteor slammed down onto what is now Arizona. The impact struck with more power than early nuclear bombs, creating a crater ¾ mile wide, 600’ deep! The shockwave vaporized everything near ground zero, pushing winds outward at over 600mph within a 2 mile radius. Animals over 1 mile away likely were killed by the pressure wave and debris, vegetation was destroyed over 200 miles away, and regional weather would have been affected for several weeks.  

Early non-indigenous people thought the crater was an extinct volcano caldera. In 1902 self-taught geologist Daniel Barringer proposed the idea that the geological feature was actually a collision crater. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that this idea was accepted by the scientific community.   The site of the crater is currently preserved by the Barringer family. It’s a family-friendly tourist site if you’re in the Flagstaff/Sedona area.

This second story starts back even further in time. Just a short drive away from Barringer Crater, but 200 million years back in time, Arizona was covered in forests and swampy rivers.   I was originally excited about seeing so much petrified wood and quartz, but upon arriving at Petrified Forest National Park, I became enamored by the gorgeous colors painted across the mounds of layered sediment. Scattered almost everywhere in the park are logs and pieces of petrified wood. In places, they look like hundreds of petrified wood “headstones”, memorializing a place in time where these trees once stood.

It was a surreal experience walking behind my long evening shadow, feeling the cool sinking air on my face as I strolled between mounds of bold reds and crumbly gray rocks and fossils. Then, to turn around and witness the sun sinking beneath the horizon. To say it took my breath away is an understatement.  I became lost in wonder and pure beauty.     

Historic Route 66 runs through the park, so if you’re thinking of a road trip, this would be an excellent stop.

Where’s next on my bucket list?  Someday I’d like to check out 'Jurassic Coast' in England and The Gates Of Hell in Turkmenistan!