Road Trip Day 5: John Day National Monument

I am exhausted.  But content.  A lot of hiking and a lot of driving is not a good combination, but I got to see everything I wanted to see.  Today (and yesterday) were spent at various units within the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument - essentially lands preserved due to containing lots of fossilized remains (plants and animals only, sadly no dinosaurs!).  But the main reason I've wanted to come here is for the dramatic and colorful (and photogenic!) rock formations and landscapes.  And for the most part they didn't disappoint.  The only problem is that these units are separated by considerable distances - so you need to plan your time carefully, also taking into account the limited number of places to eat and fuel up the car.  But for the second day in a row, I managed to snag a decent meal somewhere - which is satisfying.  But plans don't always work out - such as the saloon next to my hotel being temporarily closed during my stay.  As you might guess, I took way too many photos, none of which probably do full justice to how beautiful the landscape is - so let me just pick one from each trail I did (though obviously some trails had more and better views than others - so this methodology is somewhat flawed - whatever).

Painted Hills Unit (the one I went to yesterday, and probably the most popular - and one that I imagine is even better nearer to sunset):

Painted Hills Overlook

Painted Cove Trail

Leaf Hill Trail

Red Scar Knoll Trail

Sheep Rock Unit (the main unit with the visitor center, and where I spent most of today):

Flood of Fire Trail

Story in Stone Trail

Island in Time Trail

River Trail

Sheep Rock Overlook Trail

Thomas Condon Overlook Trail

Mascall Formation Overlook

Clarno Unit (this was a bit of a disappointment - ostensibly the best unit for seeing real fossils, but in actuality most of them have already been taken.  And the trails here were not in good condition and not well marked.  Fortunately it wasn't too much of a detour out of my way):

Trail of Fossils

Clarno Arch Trail

Geologic Time Trail