TrailColorado Plateau
Blue Mesa Trail
Easy1 mi loop100 ft gain
Drops into blue-gray badlands past petrified logs perched on pedestals of eroding clay.
- Distance
- 1 mi loop
- Elevation gain
- 100 ft
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Trailhead
- Petrified Forest National Park
Before you go
Conditions, access, and honest warnings.
- A short paved loop that descends into banded blue-gray badlands full of petrified logs.
- The descent is steep enough that the climb back out surprises people at this altitude.
- Bentonite clay turns to grease when wet. Skip it during or right after rain.
Trailhead park
Where this route begins.