Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument · Colorado

Petrified Forest Loop Trail

0.2 mi of trail, end to end · 30 ft of descent · 8,364 ft–8,393 ft · gravel surface · hiking

ExhibitsVisitor centers

8,393 ft 8,364 ft · 0.1 mi high 8,393 ft

Along the way Birds Early Dinosaurs Earth Cools Florissant Formation Jawless fish Land Plants Land Vertebrates Mammoth relatives near and far Wall Mountain Tuff Florissant Fossil Beds Visitor Center

Trailhead Visitor Center Area Trailhead 8,393 ft Drive there

Hiking the Petrified Forest Loop the Park Service's write-up

30-60 Minutes · no dogs · entrance fee applies · season Florissant Fossil Beds is open year round. The Petrified Forest can be walked mostly year-round. There are times in the winter when it may be covered in snow and/or perhaps too cold to walk outside. Spring/Summer/Fall are probably the best times to hike the traill.

Start Petrified Forest Loop Trail

large, white, petrified tree stump, about 10 feet wide, sticking out in a grassy field
Just one of the many massive petrified tree stumps you can see on the Petrified Forest Loop

The one-mile, self-guided Petrified Forest Loop Trail is the main trail to hike on to see fossils at Florissant Fossil Beds. The fossils you will see on this trail are petrified redwood tree stumps. These are some of the biggest petrified tree stumps in the world (by diameter). The trail is gravel and is mostly level. It can be accessed behind the visitor center. There are interpretive exhibit panels along the way.

Pets Pets are not allowed on this, and/or any of the trails at Florissant Fossil Beds. They are allowed in the parking lot and in the picnic area near the parking lot on a leash.

Accessibility Service animals are allowed on this trail on a leash. The trail is one mile in length and relatively flat. It has a few sections that go up in elevation about 20 - 30 feet at about 30% grade and a few downhill sections going down 20 - 30 feet at about 30% grade. There are some water bars on the trail. The trail has a gravel base. The trail is about 4 - 6 feet wide.

This hike on nps.gov

On the parks map

Other trails from the Visitor Center Area Trailhead

All 21 trails in Florissant Fossil Beds National MonumentFind a trailOn the parks mapPark on nps.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the National Park Service's public trails layer, the trailheads and the waterfalls, views, peaks and historic places along them the Service's public points of interest, read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end. The write-ups are the Service's own "things to do" text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the park's own site before you go.