The Oregon I didn't know!

Here's an Oregon Landscape I didn't know! I had been to the Deschute's River Valley before and oooo'd and awed at the desert like landscape of golden hillsides and rock formations but this past weekend we drove to Central Oregon to the Painted Hills. Wow!! It was like the world was transformed into a pastel painting you could just walk through with your mouth wide open in amazement! I was astonished at the colors, textures and the barrenness of the region. Due to the minerals in the soils, it make plant life nearly impossible to survive. This is Spring, where the rest of the US is waking up and beginning to grow and come back to life but in this area the rebirth is a struggle; the beauty is in the colors of the landscape.

It kind of helps that it was a cloudy, cold, overcast day... well, as far as pictures go! We camped at the Ochoco Divide which was much higher up and about 30 minutes away. At our campsite the ground was still frozen and there was snow still present on the ground from the night before. It was very cold, dog shivering cold as a matter of fact! I was expecting to come down into this valley and find some warmth but it was chilly. The formations are incredible though don't you think?!

 The above picture gives a glimpse of the texture of the ground, seemingly clay like little clumps but this is just the effect of the rain that had fallen. I love how there are so many colors; gold, red, green and almost a lavender. Really magnificent! There are 'scrub brush' growing which are mostly sage bushes. It smelt good there! This was a mind blowing visual experience that I am very happy to have been able to visit.

We got up early the next morning and proceeded to the next adventure, the Lucky Strike Mine. The mine is a little over 11 miles into the mountains on a challenging one lane 'road' ( I use road lightly cause it was a bit scary at times). Here we were guided up another 'road' to where we could mine for Thunder Eggs - the Oregon State Rock! What a trip! These eggs were embedded in a hillside of crumbly rhyolite material it was difficult at first to identify what we were suppose to be using the pick ax and sledgehammer to dig out but eventually figured it out and brought back a bucket that was only half full. I didn't take the camera up to that experience and happy that I didn't due to the unstable ground. Here below you can see the Welcome station, a pile of Thunder Eggs in the raw and a tree with a pile that they had sliced open. 

We stuck around to have two of our eggs sliced open and brought the rest back to Portland in hopes of finding someone in town who can slice them open for us. It's almost like waiting for Christmas - we want to know what's inside those eggs, is it hollow, is it solid, is it pretty??? The suspense! I will have to let you know....

We adventured back down into the valley beyond where the Painted Hills site was and just took in the scenery. The day before we had stopped into the town of Mitchell to get gas, don't bother if you are ever out that way! This day however we stopped in Dayville to get gas, it was much more hospitable and had atmosphere as well as an old fashioned store with scenery to goof off for a few minutes :) 

 Me goofing off! 

Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures when we stopped in the town of Fossil to attempt to collect fossils. But we did find fossils of plant life, leaves and fern fronds mostly. Behind the high school a 5$ donation allows you to go and dig fossils til your heart is content or your hands are so caked with clay you can't stand it! I ended up with so much clay on my hands.... oh the dried out skin on my hands!!! Nearly painful. 

As we drove home on Sunday the landscape changed from dry and rocky to grassy and windy. As we entered back into the Columbia Gorge there were the hills dressed in their Spring greens and the wind and waves across the Columbia River reminded me of how powerful Mother Nature is and that the landscape that we had just left was a different picture painted at a different time. It is an amazing world we live in and I am grateful to have found someone to share the experience with. 

Next adventure.... Suggestions?