The last compilation of the Chinle Formations we saw on our hike today.

The main story of the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert is one of geology. Uplift of the Colorado Plateau and the erosional forces of water and wind have exposed rocks originally deposited during the Late Triassic Epoch. These rock layers or strata record details of millions of years of Earth’s history including changing environmental conditions through time as well as records of the plants and animals that lived in these environments—including the earliest dinosaurs.