John Day Fossil Beds "Painted Rocks"

Trey and I drove for hours yesterday. Our plan was to make it from Hoodriver, Or. to Boise, Id., with one stop to see Painted Rocks at John Day Fossil Beds Monument. Our turn off from hwy 84 was just East of the Dalles. We started heading south though every curve and mountain pass Oregon has to offer (bit of an over-exaggeration.) From the map we thought it would take about in hour or an hour and a half. It took closer to three hours just to get there. Neither one of was really paying attention to the clock but we left Hoodriver around noon and didn’t get to the rocks until 4:30ish.

Trey and I drove and drove and only saw a few other cars here and there. I was scared just because of being so far away from civilization. We would come across towns of ten homes and spend twenty minutes talking about what kind of life those people have. Then we would come across towns with only three homes and wonder if the town of ten was the “big city.”

We finally made it to “Painted Rock.” Very beautiful as you will see from the photographs. But, was it worth it? Only if you happen to be driving through the middle of Oregon and plan on passing though. In that case I would say, “don’t miss it.”

We haven’t made it to Boise, yet. After the fossil beds we drove for another hour and a half and went to sleep. But it is now morning and we have 172 miles of curvy mountainass passes to go.