John Day Fossil Beds

Yesterday (Saturday), we drove to central Oregon to the John Day Fossil Bed National Monument. There are three different areas and we went to the Clarno Unit hoping to hike around the rock formations. The landscape in this part of the state is beautiful -so different than where we live. Although it was beautiful to look at, there wasn't much of a trail to hike so after 20 minutes, we were ready to leave. We were frustrated because it was a 3 hour drive getting there. We knew there were other "units" of the John Day Fossil Beds, but they were another hour away.












While driving we passed so many wildflowers (especially lupine). It was beautiful. If I had been driving, I would have stopped several times to take pictures! Here were some of the flowers we saw once we arrived at the John Day Fossil Bed National Monument.





Since there wasn't much to do at the national monument, we drove on to Fossil, OR. Behind the high school in Fossil, you can dig for your own fossils. The girls had a blast and we found several "leaf" fossils in the rock that we were able to bring home with us.






We drove home a different way...through the mountains instead of back through the Columbia River Gorge. We got some cook peeks at Mt. Hood.




We pulled off the main road and found a trail to hike through the forest. We walked along the stream and saw an abundance of wild rhododendrons and slugs.