John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Mitchell, OR – John Day Fossil Beds is a unique and varied monument located in central Oregon. As per the name, the main draw here are fossils from the Cenozoic Era, aka The Age of Mammals. But there are also striking geologic formations and a number of hiking trails. The monument is split into three units with the small town of Mitchell roughly in the center. We visited all three units in one day using Sisters as our base, although it made for a long day. We were staying at the Sisters Garden RV Park. Since the distances between the units are fairly long, the park service has created this handy chart for driving times. The round trip drive from Sisters, visiting all three units, is just under 6 hours. Other attractions in the region include the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and the High Desert Museum.

Painted Hills

Painted Hills Unit

Leaving from Sisters, the first stop is Painted Hills, about a 2 hours drive. Remember to fill up with fuel in the town of Prineville as you’ll likely not see another (open) gas station all day. This unit is all about visual observation of the dramatic climatic changes that occur over millions of years. Layers of black, gray, yellow, and red soil tell a story of the area’s geological transitions and provide stunning vistas. There are a number of hiking trails here that merit your attention. If time is short opt for the Painted Hills Overlook trail (0.5 miles) first, followed by the Leaf Hill Trail (0.25 miles), Painted Cove Trail (0.25 miles), and Red Scar Trail (0.25 miles). The Carroll Rim Trail (1.5 miles) provides stunning views of the entire region and is recommended if you have time. We spent about 3 hours here, including a picnic lunch.

View from the Carroll Rim Trail

Carroll Rim Trail

We spotted this gopher snake along the Carroll Rim Trail

Painted Hills

Another view of the Painted Hills

Along the Painted Cove Trail

View of the region from the Leaf Hill Trail

Sheep Rock Unit

The main draw here is the excellent Thomas Condon Paleontology Visitor Center, which also doubles as a working laboratory and research center. From the NPS website, “In the museum gallery, you can walk through nearly 50 million years of The Age of Mammals. Hundreds of fossil specimens are displayed, along with eight large murals depicting plants and animals from the time.” We spent a good hour walking through the museum. We didn’t arrive here until mid afternoon, and still had another unit to visit and get back to Sisters, so we didn’t hike any of the trails. If we had more time, we would have hiked the trails from the Blue Basin trailhead.

Blue hills viewed from the Sheep Rock Paleontology Visitor Center

Fossils on display

An artist’s rendering of a beardog based from fossils

Fossil of early mastodon teeth

Plant fossils on display from the Clarno Nut era

Blue-green badlands in Sheep Rock’s Blue Basin area

Clarno Unit

This is the smallest and quickest to visit of the three units. There are 3 shorts trails here that take about 30 minutes to hike. All trails have vistas of the Palisades, craggy cliffs looming up to 150 feet over the valley. One of the trails ascends to view a small arch. You’re probably tired by now, but the drive back to Sisters is about 1.5 hours.