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