Bill and Eileen's Travels: John Day Fossil Beds (6/22

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

John Day Fossil Beds (6/22 - 6/23)

From Bend we went northeast across Oregon to John Day, Oregon. We all though we would go over the Cascade Mountain Range and it would be flat. This was not the case. We went up, then down, then up, then down once again, and the further East we went the road got narrower. It was quite a ride but we finally arrived. After riding around the back streets we finally located the Campground which was on the edge of the County Fairgrounds.

The next day we backtracked about 39 miles to go to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds. We went to the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center and Museum. The volcanic activity in the nearby Cascades over millions of years and the changing weather and erosion have created an area that has preserved fossils from a period of forty million years spanning the Age of Mammals.

The brochure says that there is nowhere else in the Western Hemisphere where the evolutionary story is preserved for this period of time. The Condon Center tells the story well. How everything was preserved and the museum has many examples of the fossils that have been uncovered. Very interesting.

We drove up the valley where the fossils have been unearthed and viewed the many unusual colors that are a result of the volcanic ash from millions of years mixed with various chemicals and eroded in different ways. It's also a very pretty valley.

It was a long way to drive for this, but we did get to see a very remote but beautiful area of Oregon. The next day we headed back the same road to Mt Hood Village Resort. The road was a little easier going West. It was probably easier because we knew what to expect. Including the sneaker tree. We are heading for one night near Mt Hood.

Life is good!