Mental Medication - Smith Rock/Painted Hills, 6.8.2020 - 6.12.2020, Part 2 of 2
After a thoroughly mind blowing sunrise at Smith Rock State Park, we drove back to Skull Hollow and packed up the RVs. On roads we’ve never been on, we drove east through Prineville and up to a campground tucked away in the forest called Ochoco Divide. This campground was at 4,700’ so we had really nice red cedar forest all around us. Like Skull Hollow, Ochoco Divide was a first come, first serve national forest campground and we easily found two great spots across from each other. It was barely noon by the time we had settled in there so we took the Corolla and drove out to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. This place is comprised of three different units and we headed to what is touted as the best of the three known as The Painted Hills Unit.
What a cool, weird place! The Hills consist of incredibly rich colored layers of soil caused by changing climates when this whole area was a prehistoric floodplain. There are five designated trails in the Painted Hills and they do not want people straying off the trails and ruining the unique landscape. This place is really far from anything. It has no shade whatsoever and the temps were hovering around ninety. We were prepared for that though. The girls brought umbrellas for shade and we had lots of water. The trails range from .25 miles round trip to 1.6 miles round trip. We hiked four of the five trails and each one had unique features.
The Painted Hills from the Painted Hills Overlook Trail
The Painted Hills from the Painted Hills Overlook Trail
The Painted Hills from the Painted Hills Overlook Trail
The Painted Hills from the Painted Hills Overlook Trail
The Painted Hills from the Painted Hills Overlook Trail
The team at Painted Hills Overlook
Desert bloom at Painted Hills
Bridgit on the Painted Cove Trail
The girls on the Painted Cove Trail
Weird patterns of color along the Painted Cove Trail
Red Scar Knoll Trail
Tree on Red Scar Knoll Trail
Tree and Red Scar Knoll
The Painted Hills Unit is not super large and it is easy to see it all in one day. We headed back to our camp at Ochoco Divide where we had a great dinner and then I tried out some new material on my loyal guinea pigs. Actually, Bridgit, Dana and Bob have been kindly supporting my guitar playing and singing for many years now. Some of my most inspired performances have been sitting around the campfire so they’ve heard my worst and best. It sure is a treat though to hear a little guitar around a campfire…
The next morning we headed up to Cathy and Bob’s ranch in Coulee for a night on our way home. The drive from Prineville to Ochoco Divide and the stretch along the John Day River were really nice scenic roads. There is so much cool stuff to see out there! Just do it!
Along the John Day River