Yesterday we took a little drive to see the Painted Hills. It was closer than I thought--maybe only about an hour away. And it was a pretty drive, too.
It was a bizarre landscape, like an alien planet, with different colored hills ranging from white, lavender gray, gold, red, pink, and greenish.
There are a couple of specific sites of interest with nice trails. The trails range from 1/4 mile to 1 1/2 miles long and are fairly easy going.
This is Red Hill.
This is the backside of Red Hill, not quite as red on this side.
Scattered here and there were informative plaques. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)
Leaf Hill on the right.
As you can see in most of the photos not much grows in the area. We did happen to see this dangerous looking cactus though! This is near Leaf Hill.
This was Painted Cove Trail. If you look in the distance you can see a lake. That lake is actually on private property.
The boardwalk at Painted Cove Trail.
Here are some views from the Painted Hills Overlook.
On the way home we swung into a Forest Service Road and stopped at a lovely little spot for our picnic lunch.
I was a beautiful spot and I'm sure we'll be back for another picnic.
3 comments:
Beautiful! Did you go to the John Day Fossil Beds?
mt
No, we'll save that for another trip. Allegedly there were fossils at Leaf Hill (there was a display case) but we didn't see any on the ground. Besides you aren't allowed to take any if you do find them.
Why does the 3rd picture look like it was painted with a big roller? I enlarged all the pictures and read the article, very interesting, but the stripes?? Glad you had such a nice day, the pictures were great as always!
XOXOOX
Patti
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