When I first arrived at the campground in Piedmont, SD I noticed there was a sign for a petrified forest that seemed to be located somewhere on the grounds that our cabin was located. After spending the day in Spearfish Canyon, Deadwood and the motocross races we decided to spend a little time back at the cabin. I spoke with one of the girls that worked there and she told me that the petrified forest was just over the hill that was behind the cabin. We decided to go check it out.

I have been to a few petrified forests over the years, and most of them have been quite unimpressive. This was was an exception to the rule. There were complete trees laying around. If you looked or touched them without knowing what you were looking at, they would probably appear as nothing more than rocks. When you paid closer attention you could see that these were definitely trees that were over 120 million years old! That is pretty cool in my book. These photos are from the petrified forest as well as the surrounding valley. After checking out the forest we headed into town for a little dinner at the Sawtooth Saloon.