The Painted Desert of Arizona by Dave Alexander.
From New Mexico, Route 66 continues westward into Apache County, Arizona, where travelers will move through Navajo country. This includes the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and more than a dozen small towns, many of which are little more than a single trading post and others nothing more than ghost towns.
Vintage photo of an Exxon Station on Route 66 in Allentown, Arizona, by John Margolies, 1979.
Sites & Information:
Allentown – Route 66 Railroad Town
Chambers – Small Town Route 66
Side Trip: Hubbell Trading Post
Lupton, Arizona Trading Post, photo by Jim Hinkley.
The Painted Desert is the badlands of the Four Corners area, running from the Arizona-New Mexico border to the East end of Grand Canyon National Park. It is known for its brilliant, varied colors, including the common red rock and even shades of lavender.
An expedition led by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado named the Painted Desert during his 1540 quest to find the Seven Cities of Cibola. He named the area El Desierto Pintado, meaning “The Painted Desert” for its many colors. Much of the Painted Desert lies within Petrified Forest National Park. More lies North of I-40 on the Navajo Nation, where off-road travel is allowed by permit.
Snow on the Painted Desert by Dave Alexander.
Beautiful vermilion cliffs surround the highway on both sides as travelers enter Arizona, setting the tone for the highly colored drive ahead. Through this section, travelers can truly get a feel for what the Mother Road might have been like during its heyday—the small towns are still small towns, many of the Indians continue to make their living from the trading posts, and though not always in very good shape, original sections of the old pavement lie intact upon this section of Arizona’s high desert.
The original road from Lupton to Chambers closely follows I-40, mainly to the North of the interstate. In places, the original road is in poor shape and turns to gravel or dirt. From Chambers to Holbrook, the old road disappears or is on private property. Exits from the interstate lead to sites travelers may want to see through the Painted Desert, so the best bet might be to stay on I-40 from Lupton West to Holbrook.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Arizona Route 66 Photo Gallery
Petrified Forest National Park
Digital Download = $1.99
Sources:
National Park Service
Navajo ChaptersÂ
Navajo Times
Richardson, Gladwell; Navajo Trader, University of Arizona Press, 1991
Hinkley, Jim; Route 66 Encyclopedia, Voyageur Press, 2012
Wikipedia
