Flowers in bloom at the Painted Hills add even more to this dramatic landscape.

World famous for the fossils found here, the formations within the 20 square mile area of the John Day Fossil Beds contain a remarkable, diverse fossil record of roughly 40 million years of earth history. This record gives humans a glimpse of the Tertiary Period, a time when mammals and flowering plants were undergoing dramatic changes.

The quality of the preservation of many of the fossil specimens is exceedingly good. The monument is blessed with a large array of natural features that lend a unique feature to the landscape and are closely tied into the fossil bearing geologic layers of the monument.

The Painted Hills Unit is unmatched in the varied hues of red, orange, black and tan found in the exposed ash fall layers from ancient volcanoes. The Painted Cove area is like an artist's palette mingling the colors of claystone and rhyolite with the green vegetation and blue pond nearby.

Visitors to the Clarno Unit are immediately faced with the commanding view of the Palisades, a cliff formed by a series of ancient volcanic mudflows (lahars), that now is high above the surrounding landscape. Glimpses of fossilized plants from millions of years ago can be seen from some of the trails.

The Sheep Rock Unit was named for the prominent Sheep Rock peak, which towers 1,100 feet above the John Day River valley. The exposed green claystone layers seen around its base date back to 28 million years ago and new fossils continue to be exposed through natural erosion.

To the south, the John Day River cuts a path through a 1,000 foot thick layer of basalt in an area known as Picture Gorge. Adjacent to the gorge are the Mascall and Rattlesnake geologic formation layers formed 6 to 15 million years ago.

North of Sheep Rock, as you go down the John Day River valley, Goose Rock looms out over the river with evidences from ancient seabeds 100 million years old. Blue Basin then appears with its Island in Time trail.

The exposed blue and green hues of the John Day Formation claystones and tuffs are accentuated by the hopes of seeing a fossil exposed by erosion high up on the slopes.

The picturesque view of Cathedral Rock, with its eroded claystones capped by Picture Gorge ignimbrite on the top and the John Day River at its base is next seen downstream of Blue Basin.

The beauty of the John Day River valley flanked on both sides by steep basalt-layered ridges and conifer covered mountains in the distance cannot be matched by many places on earth.

Opportunities to see wildlife abound at all three units of the monument and the remoteness of the region from large cities makes it a back country paradise. River rafting, fishing, hunting, hiking, and camping are all available within a short drive.