Thomas Condon, John Day and fossils all come together in the middle of Oregon.  The fossils came first.  Then, trapper and hunter, John Day, working with the Pacific Fur Company came west in 1810. He spent the final ten years of his life living in the Pacific Northwest.  He and fellow fur trader Ramsay Crooks were robbed and stripped of their clothes by Native Americans near the confluence of the John Day and Columbia Rivers.  History records four different dates for John Day’s death and posterity has left many geographic features named in his memory.

The best known is the John Day River. Note – there is another smaller John Day River near Astoria close to the Pacific.  This river is the fourth longest river in the lower 48 United States without a dam along its entire length. It is the longest within Oregon and the Pacific Northwest – not that there have not been plans for one.  The section between Service Creek and Tumwater Falls is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

MINISTER, SCIENTIST AND TEACHER

Thomas Condon’s family emigrated to New York in 1833 when Thomas was only 11.  Condon graduated from the Presbyterian Auburn Theological Seminary in 1852 after a period as a schoolteacher. The young man came west by ship to Oregon with his new wife to fill a missionary position at St. Helens.  Fast forward ten years, the Condons transfer to The Dalles in 1862 to lead the Congregational flock there.

The Dalles earlier was a major post for US Army efforts during the Yakama Wars of the late 1850’s.  Gold discoveries in the upper regions of the John Day River made the town into a supply hub for prospectors.  The Army regular troops at Fort Dalles because of the Civil War were replaced with by volunteers from the First Oregon regiment.  These soldiers also responsible for the safety of the miners going into the interior.

People at The Dalles knew of Condon’s interest in geology.  After a talk he gave one evening, one of the soldiers told him of abundant fossils to be found up in the gold country of John Day.  Condon accompanied soldiers on some of their trips by 1865, recognizing the scientific significance of the area near the John Day River with fossils from 50 million years ago frozen into the rocks.

LATER LIFE

Condon would go on to amass a large collection of fossils from the John Day area and other regions sharing some of them with paleontologists on the East Coast for study.  He saw science and the theory of evolution as simply tools used by God in creating the world.  In 1872, he was appointed the State Geologist of Oregon going on to teach first at Pacific University in Forest Grove and later, appointed one of the first three original professors at the University of Oregon in 1876.  Condon would teach in Eugene until his death in 1907.

His fossil collection lives on at the University and his name remembered at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center, the main museum for the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument at the Sheep Rock unit.

A NATIONAL MONUMENT

The National Monument started out as three separate State Parks, with the Sheep Rock park area slowly being acquired from the federal government and from the purchase from private ranches.  Big ideas developed over the years for development of the park with possible campgrounds and a small museum.  Those ideas, however, ran afoul of budget constraints.

The Painted Hills unit developed slower because of problems dealing with landowners, while the third unit of the future monument, Clarno, resulted from the gift from a local family of 22 acres in 1963.  The park was brought up to about 100 acres by purchase and federal land leased to the State.  Ten years later, there was a rudimentary day use area developed around the base of the Palisades.  All three parks were packaged into a new National Monument, officially in 1975.

Acquisitions in the following years, especially in the Sheep Rock unit has enlarged the monument considerably beyond the original State Park boundaries.  Along with acquisitions, park facilities – picnic, wayside exhibits, and interpretive trails – expanded.  For the first twenty years of the monument’s existence between 90,000 and 140,000 visitors stopped by though they did not spend any more than two hours at either of the monument’s three units.

CANT RANCH

In 2003, the Thomas Condon Paleontology and Visitor Center was opened with a large collection of fossils obtained from the John Day area.  It is only during the Covid period from Friday through Monday.  Naturally, we visited on a Tuesday, so did not get to visit the over 50,000 specimens housed within.  Look for the hours to enlarge as times improve.  The Cant Ranch across the street – the monument headquarters are located here, as well as history of the local ranching activities here in the upper John Day.  You can, however, walk around the outside of the ranch home and see old farm equipment exhibited along with explanations of former sheepherding activities.  One trail wanders around one of three alfalfa fields still in use down to the river.

BLUE BASIN

Four other trails are open four miles further downriver from the Cant Ranch.  The main center is the Blue Basin.  From the car park, two interpretive trails head out.  Most people will opt for the Island in Time trail.  The trail round trip is only 1.3 miles climbing into an incredible amphitheater carved out of blue green claystones of the John Day Formation from 18 to 30 million years in age – late Eocene to early Miocene ages.  The area here was a tropical savannah that covered in ash from volcanoes hundreds of miles to the west.  In amongst the ancient volcanic ashes which turned to clay over time, a rich variety of vertebrate fossils have been uncovered, many only found in the Pacific Northwest.  Explanatory signs and fossil replicas are found along the path.

The Blue Basin Overlook trail is a 3.25-mile loop which gains over 600 vertical feet along the way.  With the temperatures over 80 F on the day we walked, we opted to forgo this path.

generalities

Temperature is something you should consider carefully when visiting.  Especially, in summer, temperatures can reach over 100 F.  In the middle of all of the rock of the Blue Basin, you will feel as though you are baking.  There is no water to be found on any of the trails in the monument.

Time of day is also important for picture-taking.  Later in the day is probably best when the sun comes in from the west.  In the morning, good views can be gained looking north into the eroded hoodoos of Blue Basin, but your pictures will be overexposed looking to the east or south.  The Blue Basin Overlook gives best photo results early in the morning, on the other hand.

It also goes without saying that fossils are not allowed to be collected at the John Day National Monument sites.

FOREE

Another four miles downriver – north – brings you to the Foree trailhead – passing the impressive Cathedral Rock along the way – where two short trails take off.  There is a pit toilet and some picnic tables next to the parking lot.

story in stone

The Story in Stone trail winds along the crest of a little basin again of blue green claystone from which fossils from 25-30 million years ago have been discovered.  The path is level and is only 0.3 miles round trip from the parking lot. 

flood of fire

In another direction, the Flood of Fire path climbs up to a viewpoint overlooking the John Day valley and a formation similar to Cathedral Rock where the John Day Formation is overlain by more recent volcanic activity of the Columbia River Basalt Group.

CALAMARI DELIVERED TO YOUr DOORSTEP?

Deep in the John Day valley, a private airstrip is prominent.  The airstrip presently belongs to the owner of the Longview Ranch, Dermody Properties from Reno, Nevada, a company with significant assets in Oregon, as well.  The ranch used to be owned by Robert Nesen, car dealership owner and a former US Ambassador to Australia under President Reagan.  The airstrip was originally built by Cypress Abbey and Cal-Neva Land & Timber which owned the ranch in between Nesen and Dermody.  Drones are not allowed within the monument, but private planes are cleared for landing. Look closely and you will see next to the paved runway, an airstrip designed for sea planes.  One joke was the owners could fly in fresh seafood direct from the ocean.  A new hangar is also on the south side of the runway in response to house larger aircraft.

MASCALL OVERLOOK

PICTURE GORGE

South from the monument headquarters, the John Day River emerges from a spectacular mile long thousand-foot-deep canyon.  The canyon resulted from layers of lava flowing in seventeen layers, burning the land as they spread.  The lava flowed about sixteen million years ago with an average of 8,000 years in between layers.  During the same time, the river slowly cut through the layers as they built up on either side.  Of course, others have a different take.

State Highway 19, which runs through the Sheep Rock unit, terminates into US Highway 26 running east-west, the intersection being inside Picture Gorge.  Note – Picture Gorge gets its name from Native American pictograms found in the rock walls.  There are no fossils to be found in the lava flows because of the pyroclastic nature of events.

THE OVERLOOK

On the south end of Picture Gorge, the highway emerges into a gorgeous fifty-mile valley running east ending on the eastern slopes of Strawberry Mountain region.  One mile beyond the end of Picture Gorge is a turn to the right on Antone Highway signed for “Mascall Overlook”.  A short drive takes you up to a car park and an overlook 150 feet above the valley floor.  Marker explain the geologic stories on display from here. The Mascall Formation, like the earlier John Day Formation, consisted of ash deposition – not lava – from both the western volcanoes and from volcanoes in the Strawberry Range.  The area earlier, a subtropical floodplain – the John Day area today – with many vertebrate fossils uncovered from fifteen million years ago.  Rocks of the Mascall – late Miocene – formed above the older Picture Gorge basalt flows.

CLARNO CLIFFS UNIT

The Clarno unit is 81 miles away from Cant Ranch – two hours.  From Cant Ranch, you drive on Oregon Highway 19 to the town of Fossil and then take Oregon Highway 218 further west.  The unit is two miles east of the bridge over the John Day in the direction of Antelope.  There is a picnic area just to the east of the main attraction, the Palisades, and a parking area directly below the cliffs. Here is the trifecta for the John Day fossils to be visited.

THE PATHS

There are three short trails.  The Geologic Time Trail connects the picnic area with the roadside trailhead beneath the cliffs.  Each foot on the trail represents 37,000 years.  The quarter mile of path covers 50 million years.

The second trail is the Trail of Fossils, a quarter mile loop passing boulders with visible plant fossils from a subtropical forest of 44 million years ago.  This is the only trail where visitors can see fossils naturally occurring in the rock of the John Day monument.

Above the Trail of Fossils is a last quarter mile trail – one way.  The Clarno Arch Trail climbs 200 feet to a natural arch cut into the cliff.  Petrified logs are also visible along the path.  Time of day for photos is either best early or late, but since the cliffs face south, other times of day can give decent results, too.

THE STONES

Clarno Formation consists of deposits 1,800 meters – almost 6,000 feet – thick.  Volcanic and volcanogenic sedimentary rocks aging from 39 to 54 million years of age.  The Clarno Formation is best known for the wide range of plant fossils found here.  It is the single most species rich fossil wood location on Earth from any geologic period. 

LAST NOTES

Last notes on visiting the John Day Fossils.  The three units are far apart – the Painted Hills unit is 45 miles west of Sheep Rock off US Highway 26; the distance from Painted Hills to Clarno is 75 miles.  Most visitors head for the Painted Hills – it is about an hour east from Prineville and an hour and a half from Bend.  As in the past, two hours is still about right for most visits to either of the three units, though a visit to Clarno can be considerably less if no trails are walked.  Be aware of your fuel.  Gas stations are few and far between.

SLEEPING

There are no campgrounds in any of the units of the monument.  A few rudimentary campgrounds can be found outside along either the John Day River – both the north of the Painted Hills unit at Priest Hole and along Oregon Highway 19 between Service Creek and Kimberley with two more sites just east of Kimberley on Oregon Highway 402 – or along Oregon Highway 19 between Service Creek and Fossil – two county parks, Bear Hollow and Shelton Wayside.  There are two small motels in Mitchell near the Painted Hills and a couple of scattered Bed and Breakfast establishments, but not much else.  Reservations are probably a good thing, especially on weekends. 

WEATHER AND …

Summers can be extremely hot.  Winter access can be tricky with several mountain passes being needed to cross. Be careful of rattlesnakes.  The area is rugged and beautiful.  Definitely plan on more than a couple hours if you can. 

A great place to start any trip to the John Day and its fossils is the Oregon Paleo Lands Center in Fossil, Oregon, right across the street from the Wheeler County Courthouse. Exhibits and information on ancient and current travel into this gorgeous section of Oregon. The website is also full of information on planning a visit.