C8
Journey
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Painted Hills live up to billing
National monument offers stunning vistas
By Kathy Aney
EO Media Group
T
he Painted Hills have
beckoned to me for
years.
I just never seemed to get
to that part of Central Oregon.
When my husband, Bill, start-
ed planning a fi shing trip on
the John Day River, however,
I realized the national monu-
ment was just down the road.
We arrived at our campsite
last Saturday and pitched our
tents, and then Bill and our
son-in-law, Anton, set out to
the river where they would
launch our drift boat and hap-
pily hook smallmouth bass for
much of the afternoon.
My daughter Lindsay and
I set out for a half-hour drive
to the Painted Hills, 9 miles
north of Mitchell. On the way,
I asked Lindsay to describe
the hills since she’d seen
them on another trip. They
are beautiful and colorful, she
said, and almost cartoonish in
their exaggerated hues, lumps
and swirls.
“Cartoonish,” I mused.
I rolled the word around in
my brain, but it wasn’t until I
saw my fi rst painted hill that
her description actually made
sense. The otherworldly land-
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Millions of years of geologic history are on display in the multi-hued layers of the Painted Hills near Mitchell.
scape seemed as if Mother
Nature had dialed up the vi-
brancy and saturation of the
yellow, red and golden lay-
ers of stratifi ed clay. Mounds
and moguls fi lled the scene,
some appearing as whipping
cream just as it gets thick and
u n g l e
J
a
v
J a & Tropical Tan
See VISTAS, Page C9
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
We
Deli
ver!
The otherworldly Painted Hills attracted about
75,000 visitors last year, up 61 percent since Travel
Oregon named the site one of the Seven Wonders
of Oregon.
• Coffee
• Sandwiches • Tea
• Espressos
• Baked Goods
• Smoothies
• Italian Sodas
• Try our Chicken
Salad Sandwich!
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
Flowers wave in the breeze at the fringe of the
Painted Hills.
John Day • 142 E Main • 541-575-2224
Prairie City • 119 Front St. • 541-820-3762
EO Media Group/Kathy Aney
A tourist sets up a shot of the Painted Hills in
Central Oregon near Mitchell.
Quilts and Beyond
209 McHaley St.
Prairie City, OR 97869
Open 10am-4:30pm
Tues.-Sat.
541-820-4777
Be sure to stop at
Boyer’s Cash Store on
your way through town!
Serving Grant County since 1927
Stock up on everything you need to give you a pick-
me-up during a road trip, or an outing on the river.
• Groceries • Snacks
• Gas
• Diesel
335 John Day St., Monument, Oregon • 541-934-2290