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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2016)
Journey Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 27, 2016 C9 VISTAS Continued from Page C8 the beaters make ripples and folds. I could imagine a Dr. Seuss character such as the Lorax, Sam-I-Am or Horton the Ele- phant sauntering into the scene. Cartoonish and stunningly beautiful. We learned that the bands of color represent changes in climate in the last 32-35 mil- lion years. The red strata came from more tropical times, and the yellows indicate a drier and cooler climate. Black streaks and stains indicated manga- nese, likely left by plants. The colors intensify during rain- storms. We pulled out our cameras and stayed absorbed in photo- graphing the scene as we slow- ly walked the half mile Painted Hills Overlook Trail out and back. We passed knots of other gawkers who seemed mesmer- ized by the view. Judging by the accents, many were foreign. A large group from India was visiting this day. The superintendent of the John Day Fossil Beds Nation- al Monument (which contains the Painted Hills and is admin- istered by the National Park Service) said tourist numbers jumped at the Painted Hills after Travel Oregon in 2013 named the site as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. “Visitation has gone up sig- niicantly since then,” said Su- perintendent Shelley Hall. She said the number of visi- tors rose from 45,849 people to 74,873 in 2015. Hall attributed some of the spike to mild win- ters and the low price of gas, but suspects that the Travel Or- egon designation spurred much of the gain. She has noticed a deinite increase in both domes- tic and foreign visitors. The superintendent said in- creased visitor trafic has cre- ated challenges at the national monument. Her staff worries more about the fragile envi- ronment, but acknowledged that people are generally pretty respectful. It’s really the little things that cause extra angst, she said. The toilet paper in the visitor center bathroom, for example, now must be resup- plied multiple times each day, whereas before once every day or two was enough. Visitors can remain happily oblivious to the logistics and the extra expense, though — they get to gaze at the magniicent scene free of The Painted Hills have colorful layers of stratification that correspond to different geological periods. EO Media Group photos/Kathy Aney Lindsay Chiono strolls a short boardwalk that is part of the Painted Cove Trail in the Painted Hills Unit near Mitchell. The late afternoon sun casts long shadows as Kathy Aney and Lindsay Chiono get a close-up look at the colorful multi-layered rock as they follow a boardwalk trail. A tourist sits on a bench and gazes at the Painted Hills in Central Oregon. charge. They must merely heed signs that instruct hikers to stick to the trail and not put pressure on the delicate ecosystem. Lindsay and I hiked up the 1.6-mile Carroll Rim Trail, navigating a series of switch- backs to a high place where we got a panoramic view of the Painted Hills, Sutton Mountain and a large swath of the area. We weren’t alone, but I didn’t really care. I felt strangely bonded with all these other vis- itors in our appreciation of this jewel of Oregon. Our last micro hike was the Painted Cove Trail, a quar- ter-mile loop that allows walk- ers to get close enough to eye- ball the pockmarked surface of the colorful rock. Two other short hikes include the Leaf Hill Trail, the site of paleonto- logical research, and the Red Scar Knoll Trail, an out-and- back trek to a multi-colored knoll. As we drove back to our camp site to sip wine and listen to stories of bass, I marinated in our recent adventure. Yes, I thought, the Painted Hills had lived up to their billing. Do you have an upcoming event? Rent the Canyon City Community Hall for birthdays, wedding receptions or family get-togethers! 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