Clarno, the Furthest and the Oldest

I'd heard rain was on the way so planned on staying close and exploring Hwy 19 and the Sheep Rock section of John Day Fossil Beds.

As I drove up 19, I first came to an amazing layered and perfectly named  'Cathedral Rock.' No great pull-outs for roadside painting but I'll figure that out and be back!

The sky had tiny patches of blue, still mostly grey but no rain - so I decided to keep driving and head out to the furthest section of the park, it also happens to be the oldest Geologically; Clarno. (Approximately 53-40 million years ago.)

The weather held thankfully, and now I will have seen each section of the park and can more easily plan where to go for early morning light and for afternoon shadows. 

It took so long to get to Clarno! .. a bit over 2 hours. A beautiful winding road following the river, more mountainous and with great big pine trees... But it seemed to take forever. FOREVER!

Ahhh, but Clarno! So spectacular!

The palisades are enormous, you come around a bend and there they are!  Deep rusts and golden greens mixed with blues and mauves. Lovely.

Originally I wanted to go for a hike, just check out the area, but I had to get a quickish painting in, I mean - I'd come so far! It was fun to talk to visitors, not a lot of people out that way but nearly everyone I saw came over to say hello and see what I was doing. Of course I was decked out in my NPS Volunteer clothing, and people were curious about the Artist in Residence program :) I met people from Ohio, Germany, Portland, 'the Tri-Cities' (still not sure where that is) and Australia. 

I stayed as long as I dared because I knew I had a minimum 2 hours of driving to get back, I needed to get gas (station closes at 5), I wanted to get a good picture of the John Day River 

... and I didn't want to get back to Lands Inn in the dark because of all the deer!(Instead I had to maneuver around some annoyed cows.)

Just as I was closing the cow gate behind me, the rain began.

I will not go on a long drive tomorrow!

I'm now drinking a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA (a fantastic local beer), eating scrambled eggs for dinner and visiting with Abby (the Geologist.) She just told me that tomorrow is game night and that a couple other Geologists from the park are coming up here for cards. Too funny.