June 30 - John Day Painted Hills

Today we drove about 45 minutes to the west to explore the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

We did all the trails. Most were in the 1/4 mile length but the Carroll Rim Trail was a whole 1.5 miles. I am sure that everyone will be sick of red and yellow hills after this post.

First was the Painted Hills Overlook. This is the view to the east from the parking lot.

Then you climb up for a slightly higher view.

At the end / top.

The photosphere.

Looking to the west.

We saw this couple with their young baby and commented on how it was the first time in a long time that we had seen a baby well protected, with a big hat and even sunglasses. They were taking lots of pictures.

 

Heading back down. We climb the hill in the background, below, as our next trail.

Not this one.

The Carroll Rim Trail climbs up here.

Up, around behind and the along the ridge to the top.

It was a bit windy for the umbrella today.

The photosphere.

Looking back down.

Going around the corner.

And along the ridge.

To the top.

The photosphere from the end.

The wide view down on the main area.

The photosphere.

Some closeups.

Looking behind us we could see our next stop, the Painted Cove.

Heading back down.

The Painted Cove is a small area where you can walk between some (more) deep red and yellow hills.

The photosphere.

The main trails was a loop but you could walk up to a higher viewpoint.

Somebody was adding to their Instagram portfolio.

The photosphere.

Continuing the loop

And a final photosphere.

Looking back at some people silhouetted on the lookout.

The Leaf Hill trail was a dud. It was a mound where they have found a lot of plant fossils but they remove them as soon as they find them. It was just a hill of broken stones.

 

At the Red Hill parking lot we saw that someone had rented an interesting way to get around the park.

By now Jennie was a bit bored but I wanted to see everything. It really was just another large red (and yellow) hill.

Going in you see the red side. Once again the camera compresses the size. I would guess that it was at least 50 feet tall.

Half red / half yellow.

At the trail end you saw the yellow side.

This picture best shows the true size.

Then home.

On the drive there, we had seen this shoe tree beside the highway. I managed to get a picture on the way back.

I have no idea where people stopped to fling their shoes because there was nowhere to pull over or even much of a shoulder.  Some people must have really good arms to reach those top branches.

June 29 – To John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Yesterday was rather grey and cool so we just did some shopping and then relaxed.

Today we moved west into Oregon to visit the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

 

Once we got off the interstate, we hardly saw anyone. I think only two cars caught up to us and 99% of the time there was not another car in sight.

More wide open sagebrush country but the highway sure was smooth. I always worry when I am on what looks like new highway because we always seem to eventually run into them building it but not today.

We went over three relatively low mountain passes. Since there were no cars to block I could just chug up them at my leisure.

It’s nice to see snow capped mountains again.

We are staying at the Fish House Inn and Rv Park in Dayville, Oregon. It sure is a step up from the last place. There are only 7 sites and they are huge. Full hookups for $35 a night. We have number 7 with some tall trees to give us afternoon shade. It is going to be hot here. The TV satellites are also just out in the open on the edge of the trees so I could still use the rooftop dish.

It’s kind of funny because we are the largest unit here with just two of us. In that black van in the background, there are two adults, 3 kids and a large dog. In another small class C, there is a brave man with his wife and two kids plus his wife’s parents.

The Monument is divided into 3 units, that are not all that close to each other. We will explore one each day.

We are near the Sheep Rock Unit by Dayville.

We first went to the Thomas Condon Visitor’s Center.

To get there you have to go through Picture Canyon.

The only problem is that there are signs saying that you can’t stop to take pictures. I just stuck the camera out the window.

From the parking lot you can see Sheep Rock, although I am not sure why it got the name.

All of the fossils in the area are “young” at under 50 million years old, long after the dinosaurs were gone. The visitor’ center had a large display showing a lot of fossils and describing the different ages that they came from and where in the monument they were found.

There is  longer hike in this unit that we will do later. Today, we just did two shorts one in the Foree Area.

First a stop to look at Cathedral Rock, on the way.

The photosphere.

First up was the Story in Stone Trail. The green colour in the hills is not due to copper but a mineral called celadondite.

The photosphere.

The photosphere.

The Flood in Fire Trail takes you up opposite another colourful cliff face.

The photosphere.

In was very got with no wind and after the long drive, we had had enough.

Heading back to Picture Canyon.