Saturday August 20, John Day River, Kimberly

Days don’t get much better than today, from driving through the most spectacular scenery on surprisingly quiet roads, and ending up camping right beside the river and swimming with temperatures in the high 30’s.

Right from when we left the camp we were into open dry ranch country. First stop was at the Painted Hills of the John Day National Monument. We had read about it in tour books, and often when you get to a place it isn’t quite as magnificent as it makes it….well we were just in awe. The eroded hills are banded in a multitude of colours, the result of a series of eruptions, and are just stunning. Ideally the best time to see them would be at sunset, or even after rain, but we were there late morning and they were pretty special. Couldn’t stop taking photos as we walked up into the hills.

Back on the road again and came across the Old West town of Mitchell, with a few eating places and some interesting old buildings. While we were there a dozen classic Morgan cars arrived for a lunch stop. They had come from the Salem area on a rally, quite a sight.

Continued east through what would be a geologists dream. Every corner we turned was another breathtaking view, At one stage we had to stop and turn around for photo….a dead tree on the side of the road with hundreds of pairs of sneakers hanging on it…..the mind boggles!

The John Day area is famous for its fossil beds and we stopped at the interpretive centre of paleontology….a fascinating place with a museum packed with fossilised skulls, skeletons and leaves found in the area.

Continuing north on Hwy 19 the road followed the John Day River, with a number of huge ranches. The flats beside the river were all irrigated, but the hills were dry and arid and covered with sage bush.

Had read in Lonely Planet about a BLM camp on a fork of the John Day river a few miles east of Kimbelry.

It was mid afternoon and getting pretty warm, and decided that the little campspot under a tree overlooking the river was pretty inviting….and only $5 for the night. There were several other campers and everyone was in the river having fun…..and we joined them. Just the right temperature and a lot of fun as it was quite swift flowing with a smooth stone bottom. A great end to what was probably one of the most spectacular days of our trip this year.