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| Part of the Sheep Rock Unit is a
2 mile drive through rock formations called Picture Gorge. It's really
hard to give a true impression of how towering these rocks were. |
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| Now it was time to head to the place
I'd been anticipating, the Painted
Hills Unit. Again we followed the John Day River for a while. |
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| Suddenly, Tim jammed on the brakes
and backed up to take a closer look at this very odd-looking tree at the
side of the road. |
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| It was a Shoe Tree! What must have
been hundreds of pairs of shoes hung from the branches. They were in varying
states of disrepair. We loved it! |
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| And oh my goodness, this hill on
the road into the exhibit took my breath away. Tim kept telling me that
there were plenty more, but I couldn't believe there would be anything
lovelier. |
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| But there was! These are the Painted
Hills, 'Tones and hue may appear to change from one visit to another,
as the claystones differ with ever-changing light and moisture levels.'. |
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| 'The weathering of volcanic ash
under varying climatic regimes resulted in vividly-hued rock layers of
red, pink, bronze, tan and black.' |
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| It was one of the
most beautiful sights I've ever seen. |
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| Here there was a long hiatus, which
seemed interminable as we searched and searched for a gas station. We
got lucky, finally, and on the way back to Condon we drove through the
tiny town of Shaniko, a 'not-quite'
Ghost Town. This is the Jail Wagon. |
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| The Shaniko Bank is still standing
too, barely. Shaniko was once the wool capital of the West Coast. |
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