This morning we set off westwards with a long way to go, today would be one of our longer driving days on the trip. The first 40 minutes took us from Boise to Nampa though largely urban scenery as the two cities blend together at the edges. Once we hit the open countryside we were into wide agricultural land, with farms as far as the eye could see. The crops seemed to be mostly onions and corn with some cabbages thrown in for flavour. The aroma was powerfully of fertilizer! The smell stayed with is for at least a couple of hours until we climbed out of the valleys and up into another national forest.
Unfortunately the aroma from then on for the rest of the morning was wildfire smoke. The haze from the smoke hung over our route for many miles and when we stopped at a viewpoint we could see the smoke rising from several active fires in the hills.
The viewpoint had a tribute to the pioneers who followed the Oregon Trail out west, a huge covered wagon. Inside there were posters advertising the attractions of the region.
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| Painted Gorge |
In the tiny town of Dayville we stopped at a cute little store to buy sandwiches for our lunch and some cold drinks. Not far down the road we drove through the short but striking Painted Gorge to reach the entrance of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. This area of Oregon has been a fabulous resource for a huge collection of fossils dating back over 55 million years.
We tucked into our lunch before checking out the displays in the visitor centre and collecting a map for the various trails in the area. The centre is actively undergoing palaeontological research and there was a laboratory with all the equipment for the task. On weekdays you can view the scientists at work but as today was Saturday, all was quiet in the lab.
We decided to walk a section of the Islands in Time trail which takes you up into the weirdly green rock canyon to see where the fossils have been unearthed. We stopped to see the remains of an ancient turtle but then headed back to the car, the sun was hot and the temperature was 34 degrees C.
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| Hiking up the green canyon |
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| Amcient turtle fossil still in canyon walls |
Another 40 minutes down the road is another “unit” of the same National Park, the Painted Hills Unit. This area is protected because it features a spectacular area of clay hills in shades ranging from mauve to gold to rich red. We walked a short trail through one section and stopped on the hill to try to capture the scene. Apparently the hills look their best at sunset after rain but we were still pretty impressed at 2 pm on a hot hazy sunny day.
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| At the Painted Hills Unit |
The drive on to bend was another hour and a half, through more national forests and a few small towns. We passed the Ochoco Reservoir where several homes lined the water and had nice little boat pontoons out into the lake. Unfortunately the water level has dropped so much that all their pontoons were sitting in the grass a good 15 metres above the water line!
Tonight we’re staying in Bend, Oregon. Our hotel is in the Old Mill District, an attractive area with lots of shops and restaurants right on the Deschutes River. The Mill was a lumber mill that drove the economy of Bend for the early part of the 20th century but by the 1960’s the mill had closed and the site fell into ruin before a developer bought it in 1993 and turned it into the thriving complex that it is today. We went for a walk earlier and watched the locals floating down the river in blow up floaties and also doing stand up boarding on the gentle flow. The desk clerk said it was a really popular thing to do on a hot summers day. They all looked like they were having fun.
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| Floating down the river with the Old Mll at the right ( under the three smoke stacks) |
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| Dinner by the river |
For dinner we booked a table at Anthony’s Seafood Restaurant at sat outside in the balmy evening air looking across the river to the setting sun. Blissful! The Dungeness crab dip, followed by wild trout was pretty blissful too.
We’d been commenting today that this is probably the best trip we’ve had so far for wildlife viewing and as we walked back to the hotel, 3 deer ran across our path just at the edge of the hotel car park! They were followed by a few more, they seemed to be enjoying the flowers in the hotel garden.
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| Unusual hotel guest! |