Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park Backcountry — Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026

Speedwell and I hiked along the Bluff trail and then out to an area that is thick with petrified wood (caltopo attached). An old 2-track leads to this area. At the end of the 2-track there are USGS markers embedded with wood. If you drop down 40 feet of elevation to the north, you'll find a large, half-buried petrified log (photo 2). We saw 2 groups of bighorn sheep (photo 3). I saw a yellow-bellied marmot at the trailhead and Speedwell saw a coyote along the bluff. The only native flower we saw was desert parsley (Canby's I think, photo 1, there was lots of it). We also saw Whitlow grass and red-stem stork’s-bill. The bathroom at the trailhead was very clean with plenty of TP and hand sanitizer. This is my favorite winter trail, often sunny, sweeping views, great wildlife, and great tread along the bluff portion. There was no mud. It was a lot of fun to see the ravens playing and socializing, video attached. They reminded of the line from Lucinda Williams' song 'Blue',

"Raven feathers shiny and black