In April, my favorite roadtrip companions, Kathy and Jill, and I spent a whirlwind 3 days exploring a little slice of Eastern Oregon. This is a trip I've been wanting to take since the minute I moved to Oregon but, despite it being an easily driveable distance, it always seemed like an insurmountable task. I was determined to make it happen in 2017 (my hastily written new year's resolutions demanded it, in fact) and we managed to carve out a few days to turn it into reality.
When I first started planning this trip, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that I wanted to take the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway because, well, the 3 of us all really love a scenic byway. I knew that there were 3 units in John Day and that I wanted to stop in all of them. However, I didn't know too much else.
There was an amazing switch almost immediately once we pulled onto the Journey Through Time. The landscape became vast, wide, and incredibly humbling. We spent most of the time without cell service and also without seeing another car or human being. As much as I love that kind of 'off the grid' experience, the super anxiety ridden part of my brain can't help reminding me that if the car broke down or one of us had a medical emergency we would be totally on our own. That's why I live in cities and only visit sparsely populated areas, to be frank.
The best thing about areas like this, where you don't see another car for hours, is that there's nothing to stop me from slamming on my breaks to exclaim in joy over a wild animal I caught in my peripheral or pull over and walk down the middle of the road taking photographs of the breathtaking hills surrounding me.
Our first stop off the byway was a small ghost town called Shaniko. It has a population of about 30 and, if you include Sadie the dog, we met 10% of it on our stop. From what I understand, it gets a bit of a tourist boom in the summer months, but we essentially had the entire town to wander around by ourselves. There were 2 open shops - a small mini-mart/junk shop where I was hoping to buy sugar cubes for any roadside horses we might come across and a small "gift" shop labeled as a bar. The woman working in the mini-mart ignored us entirely and knitted while we wandered the store. Even when I told her to have a nice day I just got stoney silence in response.
Was she actually alive or a ghost? We'll never know.
The woman who owned the gift shop, however, was amazing. Her dog ran out to greet us and she offered to take our picture with some carved wooded cowboys on a nearby bench. While we looked around her shop, I asked her about the town and when more things open.
"Does the hotel open in the summers during tourist season?"
"That hotel hasn't been open in 10 years."
GHOST TOWN, Y'ALL. Also that plays right into the running joke Kathy and I have going of "she's been dead for 10 years."
Kathy and I walked down the street a bit to meet a very dirty horse who was extremely happy to meet us. I didn't have any sugar, but he happily took handfuls of grass from my hand. Every time I'm around a horse, I miss riding. I miss it deep in my bones. BUT I DIGRESS.
Onward!
Eventually we hit the first unit of John Day - Clarno. The Clarno Unit is made up of these enormous walls of rock, made from volcanic mudflows. Apparently this area used to be a rainforest area until the volcanos turned it into the desert area it is today! We took a walk on a small trail around the base of the rocks. Jill climbed up on a trail into them a little more while I quietly panicked and waited at the bottom, nbd.
If you're not on a hike, a climb, or a fossil finding expedition, the Clarno Unit is a quick stop on the byway.
Our next stop was in Mitchell, OR. This tiny depressed town is the "gateway to the Painted Hills" and our home for the night. I booked us a room at The Oregon Hotel which, frankly, was a Dream Come True. We were the only people staying at the hotel and were greeted by a teenage boy who gave us our room keys (actual keys!!), told us that there would be muffins at the front desk for us the next morning, and left. We saw him the next morning briefly (he let us pet his amazing dogs) but aside from that, it was just us and the hotel.
We grabbed dinner at one of the two restaurants in town, bought some cheap wine at the tiny grocers, and made our way to The Painted Hills.
It was actually quite shocking how there were no other people around and nothing protecting these beauties FROM people besides a few signs asking that no one touch the hills. Maybe I don't think highly enough of people to assume that that's enough?
The next morning we decided to try out the other restaurant and were immediately uncomfortable with the men at the table next to us both strapped with guns. Honey, we're not in Portland anymore! Their conversation consisted of liking concealed carry laws and not wanting their pictures on facebook because of face recognition software. Cool, cool...check please?
Before we headed out of town, we came across these guardians that I had to take a photo of. I snapped this and then took out my film camera and leaned across the stone fence at the end of the yawn to get in closer. As soon as I did that, the orange cat stood up, hunched his body, and started moving towards me to kill me. Who's shocked this town has aggressive kitties? Not Kathy, as she immediately tried to pull me away while I hung over the wall trying to focus.
Final stop in John Day was Sheep Rock Unit. This was my favorite area for a few reasons:
- The wind was INSANE that day and all of my photos of us are just my hair covering my face entirely.
- There was a little visitors center where we got to walk around and learn about the plants and animals of this region, see people actually working on restoring fossils, and watch a short film about John Day.
- I finally got to buy myself a National Parks passport.
Additionally, driving into Sheep Rock was a new experience for me in terms of awe. I've seen a lot of beautiful things over the years and plenty of lovely landscapes, including what I had already seen on this trip, but this was something special. I asked Kathy to pause her playlist so we could drive a bit in the silence and take it all in.
Having had our fill of John Day, we started heading west again to a more populated town, Bend, where we'd spend the last night of our trip. The last day of our trip was spent eating delicious food, visiting a brewery, 1000000% enjoying the High Desert Museum, and MEETING ALPACAS, but I can't blog about everything now, can I?
