“In a crystal we have clear evidence of the existence of a formative life principle, and though we cannot understand the life of a crystal, it is nonetheless a living being."
- Nikola Tesla
Petrified Forest, AZ
What is so spectacular about these wood logs lying everywhere on the ground?!...
Entering the magic of Petrified Forest National Park is like marveling on the mysteries of life persisting in death and death upholding life. Several Native American tribal nations have ancestral ties to this place. The dead tree loses its branches and bark, the river undercuts it and transports it, and sediments starts to cover the log. Who cut that wood in such an appearance of chainsaw cuts? Well, we learned that the sediments seals the tree away from bacteria and oxygen, maintaining the tree “alive”, while minerals of the groundwater are progressively deposited and fossilized, creating crystal quartz logs that fractures in a clean cut manner. Can you imagine that the petrified wood logs you see are fossils from forests of conifer trees, tree ferns, and some gingkoes that were alive from 210-227 million years ago?! According to the researchers, some of these trees may have approached 200 ft high (61 m)!
Several Native American tribal nations have ancestral ties to this place. The girls wanted to collect some of the petrified pieces lying on the ground of this largest concentration of petrified wood in the world – hence the National Park designation - but one is only allowed to get them at the park’s shop. We drove around and hiked until dawn, and the shops were closed when we exited the park. However, we found a huge petrified wood log in the trunk of a… car. The tires didn’t make it, good luck in carrying 160-200 pounds per cubic foot!
That evening we continued droving towards Flagstaff Airport to pickup Jasmine from work. Next stop: The Grand Canyon!
Our “roadschooling on workation” started in July of 2020. Follow our current blog here and our previous ones on http://creatingourvision.blogspot.com and http://awomansquestfortruth.blogspot.com
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