Day 23. Who was John Day?

Sunday August 31st. (Because I am behind in posts)

Who was John Day.....that was the question of the day. As we made our way from Baker City towards the town of John Day, OR there was much discussion between us (via our intercoms) as to who was John Day that he had two towns, a river and a major attraction named after him. Tom conjectured that he was an egomaniacal politician, whilst I guessed that he was an early western pioneer. It turns out that I was  most correct, as we ascertained once we had access to the internet. John Day was a trapper from Virginia who was part of the 1811 Astor Expedition. He and a companion were attacked by Indians and left naked in the wilderness near a river. They both made it back to the rest of the party and survived to tell the tale. The river where the attack occurred was subsequently named the John Day River and the town that grew up further downstream was named John Day and a smaller town further along was named Daysville. Interesting!

However, the main reason for taking this route was to visit the John Day fossil beds, along the Oregon Scenic Bypass "Journey through time". It was an incredibly scenic route (OR route 26) and had several overlooks over some amazing formations that were the result of various volcanic events. These occurred at various times in Earth's history - hence the Journey through time

Roadside information stop!

 Mascall formation overlook - complete with motorcycle parking!

 The overlook itself showing layers of the earth's crust left by volcanic upheavals and erosion.

The road we are about to take disappears into a massive fissure!

We visited the Sheep Rock unit (no idea why it is called that). Here there was an excellent display of all the fossils of early mammals that were discovered here - which included elephants, early horses, bear like dogs and other large carnivorous animals.

 Sheep Rock

Fossilized tree

We then headed over to the Painted Hills Unit which entailed a 6 mile detour down a rough gravel road which was not much fun on our loaded touring bikes, but it was worth it....

I have to admit that I tend to glaze over whenever there is talk about basalt, ignacious rock and so on but these visits to the various sites over the last few weeks are all linked and therefore quite fascinating to me. It turns out that the same "hot spot" created the John Day Fossil Beds, Craters of the Moon and Yellowstone as it moved across the continent! The hot spot is now located at Yellowstone which is why this area is still so active. Apparently the spot will blow again one day!

After spending a few hours at the Fossil beds - we headed back on our route to Prineville, OR for the night. This was a utilitarian stop at a "Biker Friendly" Best Western. They had a bike wash station and a laundry - both of which we desperately needed. After a very busy few hours we popped over to the nearby grocery store and put together a nice supper to eat in our room. Off to bed - ready for a major day tomorrow!

Total day's mileage: 215. Total trip mileage: 4919. Moving Av: 48mph. Moving time: 4:30