North Dakota is known for its scenic badlands, grasslands, and wildlife, but it also contains a hidden treasure: the third-largest petrified forest in the United States. Located at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the petrified forest was formed after the trees were buried under layers of sediment. Over time minerals replaced the organic matter, turning it into stone. Petrified wood, while preserving the shape, structure, and sometimes even the colour of the original wood, is much harder and heavier and feels like stone.
The petrified forest in Theodore Roosevelt National Park dates back to the Paleocene Epoch, about 55 to 60 million years ago, when this part of North Dakota was a swampy forest, resembling parts of Florida. The trees here grew quite large, up to 3 meters in diameter. Over time as the trees died, they fell and were buried under layers of mud and sand. As water saturated the ground, it penetrated the rotting trees, replacing the organic matter with minerals. This process could take up to millions of years. Eventually, the buried trees became visible again as the soil eroded.
The petrified forest in Theodore Roosevelt National Park can be accessed by hiking only. The Petrified Forest Trail is a 10.4-mile loop that goes through two different sections of petrified wood. The trail also offers very scenic views of North Dakota’s badlands. It connects to several other trails, so the length of the loop can be expanded to a multi-day trip.
I spent one night camping in the park with my father, and it was quite an adventure. It had just finished raining a few hours before we arrived, and a lot of the ground was mud. It wasn’t just any type of mud, it was gumbo! Gumbo is known for being very sticky, slippery and heavy. It’s formed by the accumulation of very fine particles of clay, which hold a lot of water. It can damage building foundations and destroy machinery.
This made the terrain very slippery, and my shoes and pants were covered in mud almost instantly. At one point, my dad got too close to an erosion hole and slid right in!
The mud was only one of the big challenges on this hike, the second was water. I’m used to hiking in Manitoba, where there is relatively clean water everywhere. However here, the “creek” that I was planning to get water from resembled more of a giant mud hole than a creek. Even with water filters, the water was not drinkable.
At the end of the first day, I resorted to collecting rainwater so that I would have something to drink on day two. I set up every container I had along the side of my tent so that I could funnel water into the containers. In the morning, my coffee cup, and pot were both half-full of water. That wasn’t ideal, but it was manageable.
Before this area was a park, it was cattle land. Early on during day two, I found an old cattle trough! It was filled with semi-clean rainwater. There was an abundance of hoof prints in the mud around the trough, which I presume were made by the numerous bison that roam the park.
Bison aren’t the only wildlife that can be encountered at Theodore Rosevelt National Park. There are also pronghorns, prairie dogs, wild horses, coyotes and deer.
The entire trail is very scenic. Parts of it are atop a prairie plateau, which offers a great view of the surrounding badlands, while other parts of the trail go through the valleys and meander along the muddy creeks.
I encountered both sections of the Petrified Forest while in the park. The first was near the beginning of the trail and the second was near the end. In between were rugged hills, small forests, howling coyotes, and roaming bison.
The park was named after President Theodore Roosevelt, who loved the landscape of the American West. The park can truly transport you back in time to when the West was still wild and untamed! The petrified forest provides clues about the evolution of the ancient landscape in both this area, and the rest of North America.
