Painted Desert (Arizona) A permit is required for all backroad travel on the Navajo Nation. Painted Desert (Arizona) The Painted Desert is a United States desert of badlands in the Four Corners area running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park and southeast into Petrified Forest National Park. It is most easily accessed in the north portion of Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert is known for its brilliant and varied colors, that not only include the more common red rock, but even shades of lavender. The Painted Desert was named by an expedition under Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
Sevier Desert and Cedar Valleys. The east of the Sevier Desert contains the communities lying at the foothills of the mountain ranges. The Black Rock Desert volcanic field is located west of the cities. Pavant Valley lies at the west of the Pavant Range, and west of the Canyon Mountains lies the Oak Creek Sinks adjacent east of the Sevier River, and west of Oak City. The northeast perimeter of the desert lies at the southwest foothills of the East Tintic Mountains, noted for its mining. Tintic Valley, a small valley between the West Tintic Mountains feeds southwesterly into the Sevier Desert.