Argentina
Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo
Trees turned to stone 150 million years ago lying where they fell across windswept Patagonian steppe.
The petrified trees of Jaramillo in Santa Cruz Province are 65 million years old, and the largest of them — 35 metres long, lying where it fell — is the fossilised trunk of an Araucarioxylon that grew when this part of Patagonia was a subtropical forest covered by volcanic ash. The conversion of wood to mineral is so precise that individual growth rings, bark texture, and even insect bore marks remain visible in stone that weighs several tonnes. They are scattered across a plateau of black basalt and white gravel as if deposited by a flood — which, in geological terms, is essentially what happened.
The Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo protects an extraordinary deposit of Jurassic-period petrified wood formed when volcanic ash from the Andes buried a forest of giant conifers approximately 65-150 million years ago, replacing the organic material with silica over millions of years. The largest specimens exceed 35 metres in length and 2 metres in diameter, representing trees that grew to heights of 50 metres or more in the subtropical forests of ancient Patagonia — a landscape nothing like the semi-arid steppe that surrounds them today. The site was declared a Natural Monument in 1954 and receives fewer than 5,000 visitors annually, a function of its distance from any city — Puerto Deseado is the nearest significant town, 156 kilometres away. The black volcanic basalt plain that hosts the forest makes the pale trunks visible from several kilometres.
Solo
Walking the petrified forest circuit alone, with the scale of the trunks forcing a continuous readjustment of how large a prehistoric tree could be, is one of Patagonia's most contemplative experiences. The emptiness of the surrounding steppe means you are genuinely alone with 65 million years.
Couple
The Bosques Petrificados rewards an unhurried visit — the trunks need time and proximity to appreciate. The nearest accommodation at Puerto Deseado or Caleta Olivia means treating the site as a half-day extension of a Patagonian road journey rather than a standalone destination, which is the correct approach.
- The trees fell during a volcanic eruption 150 million years ago and were buried in ash — wood cells replaced by silica over millennia.
- The largest trunks measure 3m across and 35m in length, lying where they toppled in a Jurassic forest.
- The Patagonian wind is constant here and can reach 100km/h — the petrified trunks still act as windbreaks.
- No facilities exist — the ranger station is a small hut and no fencing separates visitors from the fossils.
Pack provisions from Jaramillo or Caleta Olivia — there is nothing at the petrified forest itself.
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