Hey fellow OR brothers and sisters. I'm from the WA division and taking a road trip to ID soon. On my return trip I'm looking to cruise through parts of OR (not the direct route...) and see parts of the state I've never seen before. I've been planning my route and I can go past Painted Hills. It looks like a neat area for a break and I can get there around lunch time.

So for those of you that have been there, is it worth the stop? Some of the pictures online look amazing.

 

I've only seen pictures as I've only been in Oregon a short time everyone I know who've seen it are really impressed.

 

That is a pretty neat area. Painted Hills is actually a unit of the much larger John Day Fossil Beds National Monument run by the National Park Service.


https://www.nps.gov/joda/index.htm

There are really something like 3 units to the Monument and a large Paleontology Center. Very much so worth the time to spend a couple of days in the area exploring. Back in my wild and reckless days I rode an equestrian endurance ride there 3 different years. 100 miles in one day.


I plan on taking my wife down there for a couple of days after our Oregon G2G outside of Condon June 3 & 4.

 

Even though I'm only a couple of hours away from there, I must confess I have not spent a lot of time there....We did spend a day there last fall......and Jim is right....it's well worth it to go check it out. It's beautiful as well as educational.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info. I'll keep it in my plans!

 

The painted hills are worth the trip. There are three areas, The John Day unit, Clarno Unit, are two I am familiar with. The Headquarters are near Dayville, Oregon on Oregon hwy 19. The only place close for amenities is Dayville, Oregon
It's worth the trip. The Cant Ranch is part of the John Day unit. The ranch house is now a museum and worth the visit. The headquarters are south of the Cant Ranch. Lots of information there. Its a new facility with a large parking area for RVs.
The Blue basin hike is one of my favorites. But this time of year, its best to do early in the am or later in the pm as the snakes are about during the day.
I live about 35 miles east of Dayville.

 

 

It's been 20 years since I was there last but it is cool and some of the vistas are amazing but as I recall you had better pack a lunch cause there isn't much in the way of amenities but that was 20 yrs. ago. also you might check out fossil behind the high school was a hill eroding away where you could find fossilized leaf's and such.