John Day Fossil Beds & Craters of Moon

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Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Day 24 – Aug 2

Had coffee and breakfast at the campsite and rolled up the tent to head toward John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, about 4 hours away in central Oregon. The roads in Oregon towards John Day Fossil Beds were truly beautiful. We didn’t realize Oregon had such landscape, it looked more like Arizona or Utah.
We made an unplanned stop at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Deschutes county and explored Lava River Cave, a mile-long lava tube. There were lots of visitors on this day, we were lucky to get a parking spot. Headlamps were required for each person, and available for rent, but we had our camping headlamps so we didn’t need to rent them. It was a fascinating hike underground, most areas were high enough to walk upright, it was cold at under 50 degrees and without the headlamps it was pitch blackness once we got about 50 yards in from the entrance.

After this fun detour we drove on through the stunningly beautiful Painted Hills area on the western end of the John Day Fossil Beds to get to the Sheep Rock Unit on the east side of the National Monument. I found online a place to spend the night between the two main areas of John Day Fossil Beds, so we headed toward Dayville, Oregon, population 149, to stay at the Fish House Inn.

When I called to book the room, the guy on the other end just wanted to know what time I’d be there and what my name was.  I offered my credit card number to hold the room but he said, “Nah…we’ll see you in a little bit”. We arrived around 6:30 P.M. This is a very laid back rustic inn with some cottages and 5 RV sites around a large back yard. The owner, who I assume was the guy on the phone appeared just a bit drunk but very friendly.  He let us look at the cottage which turned out to be perfectly fine. He let us use the “out of order” laundry facilities free of charge, and even lent us detergent.  Honestly, the service here was personal and better than most hotels. We walked around the small main street of Dayville. Across from the Fish House Inn was the Dayville Mercantile Dry Goods store, one of the oldest general stores in Oregon. In the parking lot of the store was a hastily arranged, unusually placed 2-D façade of a little western town. There was a “lerning school”, a jail, saloon, etc. We could walk on the boardwalk side in front of the structure or behind it for photo ops. It’s called Keystone Junction. Truly unique and unexpected.

Our favorite store in Dayville was a local artist boutique that featured “growlers and ice cream”. We chatted with a woman from Dayville who was also on a walk who told us what life is like in such a remote town and how the people help each other in terms of going to a big town to get groceries or prescriptions for others. We walked to a nearby park along the John Day River, and saw some kids playing in the playground. It was now getting dark. We hung out at our cottage with a sweet view of the sunset reflection on the red rocks across the road, which was as good as the actual sunset. We then shared pizza and star gazed with our very friendly cottage neighbors: a couple, and the guy’s brother from Washington. The two guys and I walked around the grounds with the star gazing app open on the iPad, we were like kids watching the satellites, including the International Space Station which was identified on the app and we watched it go by. Our room was cozy as it was just a bedroom and a bathroom, it was very tastefully decorated, and quite comfortable.

John Day Fossil Beds

Day 25 – Aug 3

Drove 265 miles

After a nice, comfortable night’s sleep we walked about 5 minutes to have breakfast at the Dayville Cafe, the only restaurant in Dayville. We sat outside on a beautiful morning in a cozy corner of the front porch. This was an excellent, filling breakfast with very friendly service.

We then made our way to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument about 15 minutes away. Along the way we passed through Picture Gorge along Rt. 26. This was one of the more scenic roads of the trip with beautiful painted rock landscapes all around.

Though not one of the best known sites for hiking, the trails at John Day were perhaps the best marked and maintained of all of the trails on the trip. We first hiked the 3.4 mile Blue Basin Overlook trail loop which was mostly the rim of the basin overlooking badlands and vistas of the John Day River valley. We then hiked down the Island in Time trail which went into the basin another 2 miles. It was a bright blue sky day, and arid but comfortable. We were basically the only people out on the trails. The distinctive blue rock, desert landscape and sharp definition of the blue cliff-sides ridge to the blue sky were simply magnificent. We found no fossils; however we did find a bench along a lookout point and sat for a few minutes to take the vistas all in. After this terrific hike we stopped at the very interesting and comfortably air-conditioned Thomas Condon Paleontology Center at John Day Fossil Beds.

We then got in the car and found a couple of smaller hikes along the Sheep Rock Unit (Flood of Fire Trail and Mascall Overlook) before heading out along the breathtaking Oregon Scenic Byway towards Boise, Idaho.

Along the way, in Vale, Oregon we passed by an actual “Bates Motel”, which was a rundown little trashy motel in a small rundown town. Even though Emilie really needed a shower, we didn’t stay at the Bates Motel, but we took pics of it just for the namesake.

Once in Boise, Idaho at around 6:00 PM. we parked near the State Capitol and chatted with a young couple who took our picture in front of it. It was too late to go inside as it was closed. We walked around downtown Boise to find a place to eat. It was a beautiful summer night and lots of people were out, and there was music heard everywhere downtown. It was quite the happening scene. We ate outside at a nice restaurant, and watched the active nightlife. We spent the night at an Americas Best Value Inn in Boise.

Craters of the Moon

Day 26 – Aug 4

Drove 405 miles

Along the way from Boise the next morning, in the middle of nowhere in mountain desert terrain we pulled over to read about “Goodale’s Cutoff” near the Oregon Trail. One other car was pulled over at the placard, and it had Massachusetts plates…unbelievable! We arrived mid-morning at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Arco, Idaho. We started by hiking the 1.8 mile Broken Mountain loop trail. There were awesome black lava formations all around, with the trail winding its way through the hardened volcanic flow. It looked like being on the moon. We then hiked the 2-mile Caves trails, where we spelunked a few short, but difficult to enter and navigate caves. We also hiked the Spatter Cones Trail and Snow Cone Trail.

We then hiked the first mile of the North Crater trail. This proved to be a highlight as we hiked the ridgeline of craters. Emilie went about half mile further than I did so I could get long shot pictures of her hiking along the crater ridgeline, with steep red and black crater walls below. She looked so small among the vastness of the craters. This was fascinating landscape, truly like being on the moon.

We had dinner in Arco at a small, local café called “Pickles Place”, home of the original “Atomic Burger”; so named because Arco is famous for being the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated solely by nuclear power.

This place has decent diner-like, non-touristy food. The service was friendly, though a bit slow, which actually seemed fitting…no complaints from us. We sat next to a family we saw at Craters of the Moon and we chatted a bit with them. Arco is an interesting little town also notable for the easily visible high school graduating class years etched into the huge stones making up the rocky mountainous landscape overlooking the town.

On the way toward Salt Lake City we stopped in Pocatello to see a top-rated home in Idaho. We chatted with the owner who was hanging out on the beautiful porch. He was very nice, as he told us some history of the house, and then tried to sell it to us. It was a beautiful house, but not such a great town…we didn’t buy it.

Off toward Salt Lake City.

We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Ogden, Utah, 40 miles north of Salt Lake City since there were no rooms in SLC due to a convention.

 

Next: Arches National Park, Salt Lake City, Antelope Island