Clarno and Painted Hills

Friday, April 31 and Saturday, May 1, 2021

We wanted to visit the Spring Basin Wilderness in central Oregon, which is too far for a day hike, so we spent the weekend camping in the area. While we were here we visited two of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

After setting up camp along the John Day River we headed over to the Clarno Unit, which has these cool rock palisades:

John Day Fossil Beds

John Day Fossil Beds

John Day Fossil Beds

First we hiked the Geologic Time Trail. Signs along the way note events of the last 50 million years. Each foot of trail represents 37,000 years:

John Day Fossil Beds

Then we headed up another trail to check out a natural arch cut into the cliff by erosion:

John Day Fossil Beds

Clarno Arch

Clarno Arch

Clarno Arch

Some fellow hikers pointed out this bee honeycomb high up on the cliff face:

Bee honeycombs

Bee honeycombs

Near that spot are some petrified logs, one vertical and one horizontal:

Petrified Logs

View of the surrounding area:

View from the Clarno Unit

Finally we hiked the Trail of Fossils where people can see visible plant fossils from the forest that blanketed this region 44 million years ago:

Leaf fossils

Leaf fossils

Leaf fossils

On Saturday we had planned to hike in the Spring Basin Wilderness but with the rain we changed our plans and went the Painted Hills instead. We decided to do the Carroll Rim Trail:

Carroll Rim Hike

There were some muddy stretches. Clearly the rain we’d had further north had hit here too:

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

The view up here is pretty nice!

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

We found SIX discarded banana peels up there. This is why I carry gloves and a plastic bag, to pick up after others:

Picking up after hikers

After sitting at the viewpoint for awhile we headed back down:

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

Carroll Rim Hike

One last view before heading out:

Painted Hills

This is my third time to the Painted Hills. It’s gotten WAY busier since my first visit ten years ago in 2011.