TRAVELERS DISCOVER THE CURSE OF ARIZONA'S PETRIFIED FOREST.

Byline: Linda DuVal Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph

They come from all over the world, visitors eager to see the largest concentration of petrified wood anywhere.

And they come back from all over the world - letters and packages, returning bits of that wood, apologizing and offering a litany of bad luck they've had since stealing it.

``My wife left me ... ''

``I lost my job ... ''

``Our house burned down ... ''

You get the drift.

``We lose about 12 tons (of petrified wood) a year, mostly little tiny pieces,'' says national park ranger Robin White. ``Someday, it'll all be gone but the pieces that are too big to fit in a purse or backpack.''

White says he's not sure of the source of the reputed curse on stolen pieces of wood, but he is sure it keeps at least a few tourists honest.

``At least the superstitious ones,'' he says with a resigned grin.

Rangers are quick to point out that petrified wood can be purchased inexpensively at nearby gift shops - the samples taken from surrounding private lands, not the park itself.

``The park itself protects only about 10 percent of the petrified wood to be found in this area,'' White says.

The petrified wood was formed when the pine-like trees of the Mesozoic flood plain fell and were submerged in the swollen streams that crossed it. They were buried in sediment (silt, mud and volcanic ash), cutting off the oxygen. So, as the wood molecules slowly decayed, they were replaced by silica deposits. Some of the silica crystalized into quartz, and logs were formed.

Later, the area was uplifted by forces of nature, cracking the petrified logs as neatly as if someone had sawed them. Wind and water have continued to break down the petrified pieces ever since, and the park is practically littered with them.

Many of the million or so annual visitors to the park stop at the Painted Desert Visitor Center and the Rainbow Forest Museum, near the entrances. At the museum, you can check out the paleontological, archeological and geological exhibits that explain how the site came to be and what has happened there since it was formed.

Be sure to take the Giant Logs self-guided trail right behind the visitors center. It's a wonderful introduction to the park, offering a chance to see some spectacular specimens. The easy, -1/3-mile loop takes you past ancient stream beds, bentonite clay hills and petrified stumps and logs, including Old Faithful. The estimated weight of this giant log is 44 tons; it's 35 feet long. The repaired portion is where lightning struck it in 1962.

You'll learn what causes the dramatic colorations of the rock. Iron causes yellow, orange, rust and red. Manganese and carbon create blues, black and purple. The natural color of the quartz is white, tan or gray.

But trees aren't the only attraction.

Fossils of five dinosaurs have been found in the Painted Desert portion of the park, as well as the fossils of large reptiles, small sharks, giant ferns and other inhabitants that date back 225 million years - the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era.

Prehistoric people settled the area about 6,000 years ago, with evidence of their existence showing that they remained until about 1400 A.D.

One of the more interesting sites in the park is the Puerco Indian Ruins. A few rooms are excavated and partially restored, so visitors can see how they might have looked when in use. Rock art is found here and, more abundantly, on nearby Newspaper Rock.

A fascinating find at Puerco ruins now draws tourists to the site each year for the summer solstice. A petroglyph etched into the black desert varnish on a rock, resembling a C in a circle, seems innocuous until that morning. As the sun rises, it spears through a crack in a nearby rock, sending a shaft down the face of the petroglyph rock, until it illuminates that circled C symbol.

``Until the late 1920s, archeologists did not believe that petroglyphs had a significant role to play in the history of these places,'' says ranger Mary Knight. ``Then they found one in Chaco Canyon that showed definite interaction with the sun's movement.''

As others began to emerge, those early explorers discovered that the symbols most commonly associated with celestial movement were concentric circles, of which this may be a variation.

No one knows how many artifacts have been removed from the park. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. Army's mappers described this strange land. It wasn't long before farmers, ranchers and tourists began looting the area of its wood. By 1906, the local settlers realized the resources wouldn't last forever, and lobbied for it to be set aside as a national monument.

In 1931, about 2,500 acres of the adjacent Painted Desert were bought and added to the monument, and in 1962, the entire area became the Petrified Forest National Park. In 1970, another 50,000 acres were set aside as designated wilderness, bringing the park's total to more than 93,000 acres.

ON LOCATION

The Petrified Forest National Park is a 25-minute drive from Holbrook, Ariz., accessible from either Interstate 40 or Arizona Highway 180. Admission is $5 per vehicle or $3 per person. The park is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily September through April, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily May through August. (Hours can be curtailed with budgetary cuts; call before you go.) Information: [phone].

The park's elevation ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, so temperatures can reach the 100s in the summer and dip to sub-freezing in winter. The best times to go are spring and fall.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (color) The Painted Desert pairs with the Petrified Forest to make an unusual destination for Arizona travelers.

Arizona Office of Tourism

Box: ON LOCATION (see text)