Co-located with the Petrified Forest National Park, the Painted Desert has some of the most colorful and breathtaking views of any desert in the world. The main park road stretches 28 miles with many paved pull-offs and overlooks.  This picture was taken at Nizhoni Point.  In Navajo Nizhoni means pretty or beautiful.  Here you will find the site of a 200-million-year unconformity.  This is a gap in the geologic record.  The Bidahochi formation that caps the cliffs was deposited between 4 and 8 million years ago.  The Bidahochi consists of brown mudstone and black basalt that flowed from a volcano that erupted here.  The pink mudstone below belongs to the Chinle formation that was deposited some 225 million years ago.  The question is where did 200 million years of geologic history between the Chinle and Bidahochi formations go?  Ongoing research has uncovered evidence that Native Americans inhabited this area for around 13,000 years.