An unusual partnering of a brutal high desert climate mixed withe the gentler lowland environment creates a setting for one of the most scenic landscapes in Oregon state.
What was once an ancient floodplain is now a colorful, multi-layered landscape of what mirrors the drawings of scored hillsides revealing centuries of geological eras in textbooks. Bands of black, grey and red flow across mounds of land that look even more striking when wet with rains. The 3,132 acres is part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and with an abundance of early rhino, horse and camel fossils is a treasure trove to paleontologists, as well as attracting artists in search for a natural subject and naturalists looking for an unusual display of beauty.