John Day Country

It has taken me awhile to put together my thoughts on the recent vacation-- let alone comb through the photos for the ones that best tell its story. The rough map above gives you the general idea of where in Oregon we were.

It was not so far away from the farm-- about five and a half driving hours more or less east. The route took us across the Willamette Valley, over the Cascade Mountains, down into Central Oregon's valley and back up over the Ochoco Mountains to come into the John Day basin.

Once there everything was within one hundred miles although off main highway, many roads were gravel. It is a place of small towns, rivers, fossil beds, colored hills, sunflowers, ranches, antelope, museums, little cafes, lakes, tall pines, juniper, sagebrush, and grocery stores that are more mercantile than anything you would find in big towns. They provide the simple needs for the community and recreationists coming through and that includes hardware and even clothing sometimes.

The John Day is a basin within mountain ranges, drained by one river with four branches-- the South Fork, John Day, Middle Fork, and North Fork.

The region is the home of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with three sites-- Clarno, Painted Hills and Sheep Rock. I had been to two of them but never had the time to spend that this trip allowed.

We rented two different houses for three days each time. They are represented by the x. One enabled us to spend (never enough) time out at Painted Hills and beyond to the John Day River. The second one was farther east and from it we drove up to Clarno and to Sheep Rock. Each National Monument had short trails into the hills, easy walking for anyone. At Sheep Rock there were two museums explaining the history, both geological and human, of the region.

I came home with wonderful memories, met some nice people, saw a lot of inspirational country, and took many photographs. Even after being ruthless, I still have about 500. Writing about the John Day is the kind of thing writers could spend many books doing (and have), and still not cover it all; but I can give you a taste of it. If you find it of interest, you can learn more online or even visit for yourself.