Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

State park in Utah, United States

37°47′16″N 111°37′46″W / 37.78778°N 111.62944°W / 37.78778; -111.62944Area1,350 acres (5.5 km²)^[1]Elevation5,900 ft (1,800 m)^[2]Established1963^[1]Visitors73,969 (in 2022)^[3]Governing bodyUtah State Parks

Escalante Petrified Forest State Park (also known as Escalante State Park) is a state park of Utah, United States, located a half-mile (0.8 km) north of the town of Escalante. A visitor center was built in 1991, and features displays of plant and marine fossils, petrified wood and fossilized dinosaur bones over 150 million years old (Upper Jurassic Period). The Petrified Forest Trail is a one-mile (1.6 km) loop, winding up the side of a mesa to the top where most of the fossil wood occurs. Logs two feet or more in diameter are seen at several places along the trail where it is eroding from the conglomerate capping the mesa. This conglomerate lies near the top of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation.^[4] The wood is multicolored (mostly red, yellow, white, and black) and was prized by hobbyists before the Park was established. The logs are believed to be of conifers that were transported by a river before being buried and later fossilized as agate. A 50 foot (15m) log is displayed near the trail head and is one of the most complete fossil logs known from the Morrison Formation.

The Sleeping Rainbows trail is an optional .75-mile (1.21 km) loop off the Petrified Forest Trail. This section is much steeper and requires scrambling and climbing over rocks.^[5]

In 1954 Wide Hollow Reservoir was constructed to provide irrigation for the town of Escalante. The reservoir is stocked with large mouth bass, crappie, tiger trout, rainbow trout and bluegill, and is popular for water sports including swimming, boating and fishing.

Petrified wood
Petrified wood
Large piece of petrified wood
Balanced rock
Morrison Formation
Petrified wood is made through a fossilization process called permineralization, when minerals transported by water fill in all the open spaces of an organism or organic tissue
Petrified logs in place
Fossil log displayed at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Utah. This 50 foot (15 m) log is one of the longest known from the Morrison Formation

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the website of the Utah Division of State Parks.

^ ^a ^b "Escalante Petrified Forest State Park Resource Management Plan" (PDF). State of Utah Natural Resources: Division of Parks and Recreation. September 2005. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
^ "Escalante Petrified Forest State Park: About the Park". Utah State Parks. Archived from the original on March 16, 2011. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
^ "Park Visitation Data". Utah State Parks. July 6, 2023.
^ Morgan, S., B.W. Lindsay and A.P. Williams 2010. Geology of Escalante State Park, Utah. Pp. 429-436 in The Geology of Utah Parks and Monuments. Utah Geological Association Publication 28
^ "Escalante Petrified Forest State Park". Utah State Parks.

External links

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Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

Protected areas of Utah

Federal

National Parks	Arches Bryce Canyon Canyonlands Capitol Reef Zion
NPS National Monuments	Cedar Breaks Dinosaur Hovenweep Natural Bridges Rainbow Bridge Timpanogos Cave
National Historic Parks	Golden Spike
National Recreation Areas	Flaming Gorge Glen Canyon
National Historic Trails	California Mormon Pioneer Pony Express Old Spanish
National Forests	Ashley Caribou–Targhee Dixie Fishlake Manti–La Sal Sawtooth Uinta–Wasatch–Cache
Forest Service areas	Desert Biosphere Reserve
National Wildlife Refuges	Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Fish Springs Ouray
National Conservation Areas	Beaver Dam Wash Red Cliffs
BLM National Monuments	Bears Ears Grand Staircase–Escalante Jurassic National Monument
U.S. Wilderness Areas	Ashdown Gorge Beartrap Canyon Beaver Dam Mountains Black Ridge Canyons Blackridge Box-Death Hollow Canaan Mountain Cedar Mountain Cottonwood Canyon Cottonwood Forest Cougar Canyon Dark Canyon Deep Creek Deep Creek North Deseret Peak Doc's Pass Goose Creek High Uintas LaVerkin Creek Lone Peak Mount Naomi Mount Nebo Mount Olympus Mount Timpanogos Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Pine Valley Mountain Red Butte Red Mountains Slaughter Creek Taylor Creek Twin Peaks Wellsville Mountain Zion
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Green River Virgin River

State

State Parks Northern Region	Antelope Island Bear Lake Camp Floyd Deer Creek East Canyon Echo Flight Park Fred Hayes at Starvation Great Salt Lake Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail Hyrum Jordan River OHV Park Jordanelle Lost Creek Red Fleet Rockport Steinaker Utah Field House Utah Lake Wasatch Mountain Willard Bay
State Parks Central Region	Fremont Indian Goblin Valley Green River Huntington Millsite Palisade Scofield Territorial Statehouse Utahraptor Yuba
State Parks Southern Region	Anasazi Coral Pink Sand Dunes Dead Horse Point Edge of the Cedars Escalante Petrified Forest Frontier Homestead Goosenecks Gunlock Kodachrome Basin Otter Creek Piute Quail Creek Sand Hollow Snow Canyon

Petrified forests

In the world

Africa	Damaraland
Asia	Tiruvakkarai Bantak Hoçaş
Europe	Chemnitz Lesbos Dorset Druzhkivka
North America	Axel Heiberg Island Arizona California Colorado Mississippi New York South Dakota Utah Washington Wyoming
Oceania	Lake Macquarie Curio Bay
South America	Deseado Department Gaiman and Mártires Departments Sarmiento Mata Teresina Pichasca Puyango