Revisiting Painted Hills Area

We make regular trips to the John Day Fossil Beds Painted Hills Unit. It’s interesting to see the seasonal changes to this otherworldly landscape.

But this week we decided to drive past the entrance to the unit and head north on Burnt Ranch Road.

We have a general idea where this road leads and have been eager to scout it out. Eight miles later we stopped for lunch on the bank of the John Day River.

Thankfully, this gravel road is well maintained. It winds through grazing land,  hay fields and around the bottom of sage covered hills following Bridge Creek.

The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) has been working to re-introduce beaver to Bridge Creek. ONDA volunteers help construct temporary dams, plant native vegetation and deciduous trees to improve the habitat.

Bridge Creek passes the Painted Hills Unit before joining the John Day River and is a major spawning area for Mid-Columbia River steelhead. The John Day lies on the eastern edge of Burnt Ranch property at roughly the mid-point in the John Day River’s un-dammed course through central Oregon.

 

With head waters in the Blue Mountains, the John Day river flows 284 miles. If you include the South and North Forks, there are about 450 miles of water that empties into the Columbia River 16 miles east of the Highway 97 Bridge. The John Day is the fourth longest free flowing river in the contiguous United States.

Most of the river is located in sparsely populated areas through beautiful canyons, skirting numerous paleontological sites.