The Good, The Bad, and the Campground Outside the Petrified Forest

There is no camping except for back-country camping inside the Petrified Forest National Park. Too much theft of the jewel-like fossilized trees. But there's a "Free" campground right outside.

Don't stay there. It's an evil place. The energy is just bad. All the cars in the parking lot had been there a looooong time. What happened to the owners? The only person in the store belonged with the people at the Meteor Crater. The campground was full of giant petrified logs being used to mark parking and hideous fake wooden teepees with strange pseudo-Indian images on the outside and big spiders and scorpions living inside.

We couldn't decide what to do. Chris and I both lost our confidence. Ted wanted to go back to Holbrook, 20 miles away. John Michael was just scared. For the first and only time on the trip, we were all fighting and having meltdowns.

There was a foul stench in the air and the wind was howling, with strong gusts over 40 mph. The strange woman in the shop assured us it would die down at dusk. She lied. The only shelter from the wind was behind a big concrete sign up on a little rise. But both Chris and I immediately had a bad feeling, like something or someone had been buried there.

Just as the sun began to set two RVs pulled into the campground. We made a decision. We'd stay and just sleep in the car since the wind was blowing too hard to put up the tent. I tried to cook dinner in the dark, but the food just wouldn't cook. The noodles started to turn to glop. Ted and John Michael saved the day, or at least the dinner, by rigging the tarp around the picnic table with duct tape while I struggled with the camp stove and Chris rearranged the car for us to sleep in. Eventually the food was warm and edible. We ate in the dark. I tried to do dishes, and then we climbed into the car to sleep.

And that's when the place really started to get to us. John Michael couldn't settle down. Ted felt weepy. Chris, sleeping in the driver's seat, and I tried to keep spirits up by telling funny camping stories from when we were younger. But eventually we lost the battle. It was a long, long night.

Eventually the dawn came. We felt petrified ourselves. We had a quick breakfast of coffee, chorizo, potatoes and eggs, and then repacked the car and left.

It was the place because as soon as we left and went into the park, we were all happy again. It's just a bad karma place. Next time we'll go back to sleep at the Wigwam motel.