Kuzano

I posted three pics of the Painted Hills yesterday and many posted back "on my bucket list to see".

So thought I would give you more reason to go to Eastern Oregon. The National Park System has a number of "units" or park sites that include the Painted Hills Unit. Overall the web site for the John Day Fossil Beds covers Units for fossils, rock hounding, petrified forest and other site. Many different Geologies. Along the Columbia River Gorge are a few protected sites for historical artwork of native americans and earlier dwellers.

Largely overlooked, some very interesting Geology was carved out of the Palouse and northern Washington area, then down to through the Willamette valley of Oregon into Northern California. The biggest source of the making of these valleys and canyons were a large series of floods called the "Missoula Floods" which took place many times over thousands of years. A huge ice dam would form near the Missoula Montana area, and then as the huge reservoirs (Millions of gallons) would thaw the ice dam near the bottom and another flood would inundate the Pacific Northwest Region. The Grand Coulee area in Washington is just one result. The study of The Missoula Floods has been a particular interest to me for years now.

Anyway, here is the link to the John Day Fossil Beds.

https://www.nps.gov/joda/index.htm

(Download)


(Download)

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

Awesome! It reminds me of the Badlands in South Dakota. Hope you don't mind if I post a couple. While driving through the Badlands, it started to rain, heavy. The first photo was taken with sky cloudy right before the rain and the second, after the rain stopped with the sun shining. Not from same scenes. All in a matter of about 20-30 minutes. Amazing. Can't explain it. Thanks for posting your photos.

Kuzano

No problem. I took a detour off the Interstate and spent almost a day in the SD badlands, visited Wall Drug another half day, and drove to Sturgis SD to see where the big Harley motorcycle event is held each year. South Dakota has abundant interesting places to visit. One is the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD, or as the locals call it, the worlds biggest bird feeder.

https://cornpalace.com/

Sunnely Loc: Wisconsin

Yep! Great place to visit. South Dakota - Great Faces. Great Places. Aside from the Badlands and Corn Palace, among the other spots of interest in SD include 1) Crazyhorse - still undergoing construction which started I believe in the late 1940s, 2) Mt. Rushmore. Photo taken from Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway going through a tunnel, 3) Custer State Park - where buffaloes roam freely and sometimes have encounter with trespassers from a different species (homo sapiens). For that wild, wild west experience, the annual Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup is on Sept. 28, 2018 (open to the public), 4) Deadwood - predominantly gambling. Kevin Costner ("Dances With Wolves") has a museum here, 5) Sylvan Lake - a pristine and serene lake to get away from all the urban madness, 6) FWIW - James Butler ("Wild Bill") Hickok in Mt. Moriah Cemetery. Guess who's buried beside him? and, 7) Sturgis, generally uneventful for most of year except when 500K riders, concert fanatics, and street-food enjoyers congregate each year for the Motorcycle Rally. This year, the event will be held on August 3-12, 2018. Unless you gotta, skip Wall Drug. Just another glorified flea market. BTW, Devils Tower is not too far away (Wyoming).

TheDman Loc: USA

You following me around? Or am I following you? :)

Was just at the Painted Hills last year, and will be heading to the Palouse on Saturday. The geology major in me can't wait to check out the area. Those floods must have been one of the most epic sights in Earth's history.