Why I love hiking and the outdoors
I liked the colorful lichen on the basalt rocks in the foreground and the desert grass, from where I took this photograph of the Blue Basin area of the John Day Fossil Beds.
It is about a three mile hike to take the loop around this colorful basin and very well worth the effort and time. What a landscape to enjoy on a sunny winter's day.
Friday 3 Feb 2012 fog as thick as potato soup hugged the road over Eastern Oregon from Biggs to Spray, Oregon. Then the sun broke through. Great day for a hike!
There are three units of the John Day Fossil Bed National Monument: Sheep Rock; Clarno; and Painted Hills. My wife and I stopped and hiked at the Painted Hills and Clarno unit in December of 2011.
These photos were taken on hikes in the Sheep Rock Unit: First two short walks in the Foree Area; then a 3 mile loop trail in the Blue Basin and a short up and back hike in the middle of the loop of the Blue Basin hike (called The Island in Time hike).
After the hiking it was a quick trip over to the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center to look around and learn there (I learned a lot).
No other hikers were on any of the trails but at the Foree Area there were two scientists down on hands and knees, looking for, finding, carefully removing, and using GPS and other modern methods, listing where each and every fossil is found and what type of strata.
One of the scientists (who turned out to be Joshua X. Samuels), stopped his field work and walked over for a visit. Joshua is the Museum Curator and head paleontologist at John Day. He got his B.S. in Idaho and PHd in L.A.
What a bright articulate man he was to talk to. He fielded every question I came up with and I felt privileged to be able to learn so much standing right in the middle of the area where some of the current field work is being done.
One side note, is that there was a poster placed at the trail head of the Blue Basin hike alerting hikers to the "active presence" of a cougar. I didn't see any track or other signs of a big cat, but it would have been great to have caught sight of him.
I hope you enjoy the photos from this hike. The winter weather was terrific, and if you haven't yet visited all three units of the John Day Fossil Beds, I encourage you to do so.
Note: I had always thought that the blue green colors of the John Day Fossil Beds formations, was a result of copper content (Cu) BUT a helpful lady ranger at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center was kind enough to correct me, as she say she has done with MANY other (that made me feel better).
The pleasing aqua marine color of the John Day Fossil Beds formation is not because of any copper content but of "Celadonite" ~ pronounced Sell-a-don-ite (al, si,o,h,k, mg,fe,oh) - a high iron content, blue-green clay mineral. Never too old to learn something new.
Comments and faves
Pictoscribe - Home again (4 months ago | reply)
Yes this area is fantastic to explore...an interesting texture, pattern, shade, line, color in every direction...hard to shoot wrong.
oldmantravels (4 months ago | reply)
Good to hear from you Peter. The longer and warmer the days the happier I am, so this was a wonderful set of hikes to take, with the blue skies, sun, and wonderful landscapes. I hope to return during the peak of the wildflower season, even found a good place to pitch a tent and hang a hammock. OMT
ladigue_99 (4 months ago | reply)
there are so many colors in this pic! Also the rock in the foreground is really interesting!
oldmantravels (4 months ago | reply)
ladigue - - winter is almost over here in the Pacific Northwest, and this hike is only the harbinger of what is ahead for 2012. Life is good. OMT
Feffef added this photo to their favorites. (4 months ago)