Continuing on from the Ponderosa Loop I followed further north onto the Petrified Forest Loop trail that explores the ancient Florissant Lake bed and it’s various petrified redwood stumps. Going clockwise, very early into the trail (on clear days like today) you may be rewarded with distant views of Pikes Peak.
Zoomed in view of Pikes Peak in the far distance. This is one of Colorado’s 58 “fourteeners”, or mountain peaks that rise above 14,000 feet elevation. Pikes Peak is a bit unique in that you can drive your vehicle to the top…permitting weather allows and if you aren’t afraid of heights or ledge roads.
Sharing this sign along the trail titled “We Are Still Here” as it acknowledges the Native peoples and the ongoing involvement with the lands. It also affirms the forced removal of the Native tribes in the 1800s and doesn’t try to whitewash history.
Back on the trail here’s a view of what you can expect: it isn’t listed as being fully accessible, but it is very flat and composed of well-graded crushed gravel the whole way with very little elevation change.
Looking across the basin into the distance you can see some other hikers and if you look closely there are some petrified stumps encircled by wooden fences. Imagine that this all used to be a freshwater lake millions of years ago.
The star of this trail is “The Big Stump,” a petrified redwood stump and one of the largest fossils in the park. It is said the tree itself was more than 230 feet tall and 500-1,000 years old which is quite amazing as most forests in the U.S. have nothing that even comes close to that. The sign also shows how you can clearly see different geologic layers right here in the exposed soil.
Here is a view of the actual petrified redwood stump. I don’t think the photography does it justice, but it is truly huge. I have never seen actual living redwoods before, but even comparing this to some of the older growth trees I have been fortunate to come upon it is larger by almost a factor of two.
Several more of the signs along the loop trail focus on how discovery of the fossils in this area and efforts of paleontologists of the time led to Florissant Fossil Beds becoming famous, and also how that contributed to the science and study of said fossils. On the other side of that coin, one sign celebrates women settlers like Charlotte Hill who collected fossil specimens while other signs acknowledge how visitors and collectors basically pillaged artifacts from the site before it was protected. And yet another sign gives perspective of Native descendants that exposes these contradictions in values. Fascinating stuff to think about as you walk along.
Did I mention there are some fantastic views across the old lake basin along this route? I think I got lucky on the weather side of things today.
A sign “Learning from Tree Rings” describes how the rings give us information like age of the tree, climate conditions, fire, diseases, and more.
Here’s a close-up view of the actual rings using some camera lens zoom. It’s fascinating to see this in real life and how well the rings are preserved in their petrified mineral state.
Another sign titled “The Largest?” near a very large but less prominent petrified stump details how this one in particular could be the largest remnant of them all by diameter…depending on how you measure things. It also shares how the most-viewed stump could be the one that Walt Disney purchased (looted?) before the monument was established to protect the area and is now on display at Disneyland.
Another one of the intriguing signs titled “What if?” details how this area could have been privately developed into another shitty golf course if conservationists had not succeeded back in 1969. Public lands were certainly important then, and as I’m typing this post now in 2025 where Republican-led efforts are trying to steal public lands for private profits (corruption), it is certainly important now as well. Could you imagine what the public would lose just to make some asshole billionaires another couple bucks? A lesson that we must be persistent with protections now and always.
As the trail nears the end is a sign titled “Are there More?” and a rather unremarkable petrified stump which is one of 30 known in the park. Some of the stumps that were previously excavated were re-buried to preserve them for future research. It also details how they use magnetometers to detect differences in magnetic properties to locate stumps without digging.
From here the loop connects back to the visitor center. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention enough to realize the park closes at 4:30pm which I made by just minutes before they close the gates, so for this time that’s all I can explore. Time to find camp and plan the next move!
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