Day Nine - Bend

This is our last day before returning to home tomorrow.  We set out early to hike the Tumalo Falls trail, which is an A-list hike in the Deschutes Forest along the Tumalo Creek fed by the snow melt of Broken Top.  Even this late in the summer the creek was flowing strongly, more like a river than a creek.  Tumalo Falls is at the base of the hike near the parking lot and it is only the beginning of the beautiful scenery as many more waterfalls await up the trail.

Tumalo Falls

Tumalo Falls

Tumalo Falls

Double Falls

Double Falls

Upper Falls

Upper Falls

North Fork Falls

Tumalo Creek

Brian at Tumalo Creek

Spring Creek Falls

We returned from the hike in the early afternoon and went to a new brewery, Monkless Belgian Ales.  We were warmly greeted by the brewer, Todd, and his wife, Robin, in the small industrial space that they have occupied for only three months.  They have been brewing for about a year and a half but most of that time was spent brewing in their home basement in single barrel batches.  We tasted the beers they have on tap and they are fantastic (Belgian style beers are my favorite).  I bought two growlers:  the Peppercorn Wit and The Trinity, a tripel.  I will be keeping up with Monkless with great interest and look forward to when they bottle their beers starting next year. 

Day Eight – Bend

After a long day driving and seeing the John Day Fossil Beds yesterday we started the day slowly. In the late morning we took a stroll in Drake Park and Mirror Pond adjacent to downtown and took in the great views of the river, park and mountains. After building a hunger we settled on Drake, a nice restaurant in downtown Bend, for lunch.  About halfway through our meal the governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, decided to join us at Drake and sat in the booth next to us.  Kate always seems to make time for us, even when we don't ask.  (We have never asked.)  In the pictures Kate is the woman behind Brian and her security detail are the three nicely dressed young adults over Tom’s right shoulder sitting in the back of the restaurant.  After a while the pull of beer tasting was too great over even lunch with the state governor so we said goodbyes to our new friend Kate (not really) and went to Boneyard Brewing and the Crux Fermentation Project. 

Brian and Oregon Governor Kate Brown (really, it is)

Tom, the waitress at Drake and Kate Brown's security staff against the windows

Our final tourist stop of the day was Pilot Butte, an extinct volcano that towers 500 feet above Bend.  The views go on for days and we saw a great portion of Oregon form here including Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, the three sisters, Broken Top and Black Butte as well as many lesser-known landmarks.

Compass on Pilot Butte

A well-traveled Prius on Pilot Butte

A well-traveled Tom on Pilot Butte

Mt. Bachelor and Broken Top

View to the west towards the John Day Fossil Beds

Day Seven – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Part II

Armed with my camera today we returned to the Sheep Rock Unit (since it was on the way to Bend) to retake pictures of the most interesting landmarks.  When there were couldn't resist perusing the exhibition in the Visitors Center again. We then drove an hour west to the Painted Hills Unit. The Painted Hills consist of rolling hills with layers of strata formed from the Bridge Creek Flora era from around 33 million years ago.  The red layers are from the warmer, tropical times and the brown layers represent the cooler, but still warmer compared to today, times.

First glimpse of the Painted Hills driving into the park

Carroll Rim at the Painted Hills Unit

Painted Hills

Painted Hills

Painted Hills 

Painted Hills

Painted Cove

The land in the distance was formed 40 million years ago in a world of tropical, jungle forests.

Painted Cove

Painted Cove

Painted Cove

Red Scar Knoll

Tom at Red Scar Knoll

White volcanic sediment at Red Scar Knoll

Day Six – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Part I

Today was truly a highlight of the trip.  The John Day Fossil Beds are an amazing preserve and display of over 44 million years of geology and flora and fauna fossils, essentially documenting the climates and plant and animal life over that time.

Geologic timeline
(Ma = million years ago)

There are three distinctly different units to visit:  the ClarnoUnit, the Sheep Rock Unit and the Painted Hills Unit.  They are spread apart by an hour or two drive each so we settled on seeing only the Sheep Rock Unit today and the Painted Hills Unit tomorrow.  The Sheep Rock Unit is home to the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center and Visitor Center that has an outstanding exhibition of all of the eras.

Monument entrance

Road to the monument

Thomas Condon Paleontology Center and Visitor Center

Geological map

Petrified wood

When we arrived in the beautiful valley with interesting rock formations at Sheep Rock my heart sunk when I realized I left my camera in the hotel. Sadly, I was relegated to using my cell phone camera just like the rest of the tourist riffraff. Anyhow, after thoroughly enjoying the Visitor Center we drove to the other points of interest:  Sheep Rock, Cathedral Rock, the Blue Basin, Goose Rock and the Mascall region.

Mascall formation

Formations from the Bridge Creek Flora era

Panorama with Sheep Rock

Goose Rock

Sheep Rock

Sheep Rock in background

Sheep Rock

The colorful strata of Catherdral Rock was the result of layers of geologic activity from the Turtle Cove and Kimberly periods ranging from 22 to 30 million years ago.

Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

Tom pondering his navel at Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock

The Foree area was mainly formed by profuse volcanic activity.  The ashfall, molten rock and clouds of superheated volcanic material solidified forming the rock strata.

Foree

Foree

Foree

Foree

The Blue Basin is similar to the Foree area in that it was formed mainly by volcanic activity about 30 million years ago.  It is named from the exposed bluish-gray sediment and is a fossil rich area where animals such as turtles, dogs, bears, dog-bears, horses, rhinos, pigs, beavers and a variety of rodents have been discovered. 

Blue Basin

Blue Basin

Blue Basin

Blue Basin