John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

June 18, 2025

I visited two units of this monument and hiked three short trails in each one. The day started off rough driving to the painted hills unit. I drove right over a skunk that sprayed as the car was going past. My car still smells nasty. My car had other issues with the battery cable slipping off with the bouncing on the gravel roads and I did not have a wrench to tighten it however, a nice gentleman at the gas station later in the day fixed it for me. The painted hills trail was fine and there were numerous coyotes howling to greet me in the morning. Carrol rim trail offered a much better view from a hill across the way. The hills have very distinct patterns due to volcanic ash and other minerals. The painted cove trail was short and rather interesting to see the colored layers up close. Drove over two innocent snakes in the road on the way out of this unit. Sheep Rock unit was a completely different ecosystem that was mostly pillars of mud with fossils. The layers of blue/green claystone is quickly eroding each winter and exposing fossils. I saw several leaf fossils exposed on the Island of Time trail. There are several replicas of fossils found on site placed under plastic for people to view. Sadly, the plastic over the saber tooth cat was broken but it did not look like anyone hurt the fossil. The Story in Stone trail was similar to the first one but the Flood of Fire trail went to an exposed cliff face that you could see down 44 distinct rock layers.