Hiking the Blue Mesa Trail – Petrified Forest National Park

If you have time to do one hike in Petrified Forest National Park, Blue Mesa is a great choice! Most of the hikes within Petrified Forest National Park are very short and at 1 mile round trip, the Blue Mesa trail is no exception.

Blue Mesa Trail Hike Details

• Distance: 1 mile round trip
• Type: Loop
• Elevation gain: 120 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Trail is paved asphalt the entire way
• Dogs are allowed on the trail – yay!
• Hours: Petrified Forest National Park is open 7am – 7pm during the summer. Winter hours are 8am – 5pm.

Blue Mesa Trailhead Location:

The Blue Mesa trailhead is located off of a spur road from the main park scenic drive. You will see a sign for the turnoff for the Blue Mesa Trailhead, which is about 15-20 minutes from each entrance station. One you reach the turn off for the Blue Mesa Scenic Drive, it’s about 3.5 miles to the trailhead. The road dead-ends, so you can’t miss it.

Hiking the Blue Mesa Trail in Petrified Forest National Park

The Blue Mesa trail is paved the entire way and dogs are allowed. The trail will take you down from the mesa into the badlands, where you’ll see beautiful views of the striped blue cliffs and petrified wood deposits. The badlands here take on a blueish (well, it’s more like purple!) color from the bentonite, and the wind has shaped the cliffs and mounds into interesting shapes.

It’s stunning to see the vibrant striped colors of the badlands in this area of the park – and you can get absolutely amazing photographs here. I would love to hike this around sunrise or sunset – I’m sure the colors really come alive!

The Blue Mesa hike is relatively easy, but as it does descend down into the badlands, you’ll have some elevation gain making your way back up the trail. The steepest area is right at the beginning of the trail.

Petrified Forest National Park can get very hot in the summer – which was when we visited. We were here in the morning in early July and it was already pretty hot. Make sure you bring water on this hike, even though it’s only 1 mile round trip.

As tempting as it may be, do not take any petrified wood out of the park. If you’d like to bring some petrified wood home as a souvenir, there are several places outside the park where you can purchase some.

FAQ – Blue Mesa Trail in Petrified Forest National Park

What makes the blue mesa BLUE?

The blue color you see in the hills along the trail is due to the large amounts of bentonite clay in the mesa.

Is the Blue Mesa trail very busy?

In my experience, no. I’ve visited Petrified Forest National Park in summer and in early spring and I’ve never experienced any sort of crowd on this trail. You probably won’t be alone, but you won’t be fighting any crowds.

Is there a map of the Blue Mesa Trail?

I like using All Trails – here is a link to the All Trails map. The hike itself is easy to follow, as it’s all either on boardwalks or paved paths.

Have you hiked the Blue Mesa trail in the Petrified Forest? What did you think?