Lone Star Travelers Blog

Please visit our website  lonestartravelers.com  to view our photo gallery of Petrified Forest National Park.  They are in the Gallery under National Parks.

Whipple Point was named for U.S. Army Lt. Amiel Whipple.  In 1853 Lt. Whipple was surveying for a railroad route along the 35th parallel (1 mile South of here) for military and pioneer use.  He passed down the broad, sandy wash below this overlook in December of 1853.  Impressed with the deposits of petrified wood along the banks of the wash, Whipple named it Lithodendron Creek (Lithodendron is Greek for Stone Tree Creek.)  Look down here and you will see petrified wood.

We have completed our first week of training at Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert.  Internet access has not been readily available until now so I am back and from now on should be posting regularly.  We have had 5 days of training and now are in the middle of 3 days off.  The first day of training was a brief orientation, a little bit of paperwork and then we were off for the day in a government vehicle with one other volunteer who is training with us to explore the park.  The second day was in a conference room with the supervisor ranger and 5 staff members including we three volunteers mainly going over rules and regulations.  The third and fourth day consisted of training in the Painted Desert Visitor Center and the fifth day training at the Painted Desert Inn.  As I learn more here at Petrified Forest National Park I will blog in detail about the various features of this park.  We will also be posting lots of pictures and a photo gallery so everyone may see how beautiful  a park this is.