FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO160)
One the way from Silverton to Holbrook there is one detour that you have to make. The Petrified Forest NP.
It’s not even a real detour. You just leave the I-40 for the Route 66 for a couple of miles. Your reward: one of the most amazing viewpoints right beside the road. And that is saying something when you just left Utah, a state with spectacular landscape. It also helps that the sky is cloudless and the temperature is just perfect. It is warm but the air is dry and even though we drove down for almost the entire day we are still 1.800 meter above sea level.
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (98.2mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO250)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (42.7mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO160)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (29.2mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (20.6mm, f/8, 1/350 sec, ISO160)
We have been here before a couple of times but I never realised that we were on the Route 66, the highway of dreams. The route that thousands of farmers took to escape starvation and misery in the dust bowl to get to the land of dreams: California. I read John Steinbecks “Grapes of Wrath” as a young man and it profoundly impressed me and changed my point of view on immigration. I think this book should be required reading in every school. Nobody likes to leave home but some must. Consider yourself lucky if you don’t have to.
It’s great that they put this 1932 Studebaker here as a reminder. And while I googled for the car type I learned that this exhibit has been installed in 2006. So it was already here on my previous visits. It baffles me how I managed to ignore it until now.
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (18.2mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO160)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (140mm, f/8, 1/1500 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (18.7mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
Not exactly as cool as the Studebaker but comfortable and spacious: our rental, the Ford Expedition Max. Here in one of my favourite landscapes in the park. It’s a landscape that looks like you are on another planet. This is a very attractive NP but one that doesn’t see a lot of visitors as you can probably tell from my pictures. But this only adds to its attractiveness for me. Of course Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Arches offer more spectacular views but those have become extremely busy places. Especially Bryce Canyon has shocked me this year. I think they are close to introduce some visitor management measures.
The Petrified Forest NP is almost as peaceful as early morning Death Valley. It is wide open and offers this sense of an endless landscape. Beautiful!
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (27.4mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (28.3mm, f/9, 1/320 sec, ISO160)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (63.4mm, f/9, 1/480 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (50mm, f/9, 1/680 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO160)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
The item that gave the national park its name is the petrified forest. Million year old tree trunks that turned into stone. Those are concentrated in one area and they are a reminder that this desert once was a rain forest when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Those tree trunk segments are huge and they are very colourful as you can see in the image below.
All images are taken with the XF 16-55/2.8 WR on my X-Pro3. Meanwhile I have sold both as I’m back to Nikon for my main camera especially when it comes to landscape and portrait. Not so sure regarding travel though that’s why I kept my X-Pro2 plus my three favourite prime lenses. But the Nikon Z8 will take over for those big vacations and the Nikon Z 24-120/4 S will replace the XF 16-55/2.8 WR. From first test I think it will. It has an even better range and it is sharp. But the XF 16-55/2.8 WR was really special. Maybe I will end up with the Z 24-70/2.8 S at some point.
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (23.4mm, f/9, 1/480 sec, ISO160)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (45.5mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO320)
Right before you leave the park to get to Holbrook there is a small museum with dinosaur skeletons and plenty of information of the park. There is also a small “tree-trunk”-garden that you can walk through and of course there is a small shop where I got a fridge magnet.
We stayed a little but finally proceeded to Holbrook for lunch. This time we don’t plan to stay in Holbrook but move on to Flagstaff.
FUJIFILM X-Pro3 (16mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, ISO160)