John Day Camping
May 19th, 2008
This past weekend, I headed out to the John Day area with a few friends to camp. We had a great time, seeing many interesting geological formations and fossils. Our campsite was in a bend in the river at the Muleshoe campground, which made a good home base to head out into the area to explore the various sites. On Saturday, the temperature reached 100 degrees! Despite this, we did about 5 hikes - each of them fairly short, but due to the heat, they were much more exhausting.
In the morning we bought some firewood from a fellow named Scott in the town of Spray. He was an old hunter, and showed us his display room, which featured several deer and snakes. But his best kill was a bear, which he shot with two arrows from about 20 feet away!
Perhaps the greatest sight was the Painted Hills near Mitchell, OR. They are these beautifully colorful hills made up of a clay-like substance. We showed up at just the right time, as there was a ranger that took several photographers down directly into the hills to get some closer shots.
On the way back, I stepped into a prickly pear which attached itself to my ankle. Some of the needles were stuck a quarter-inch into my leg! After some prying and pain, I was free to continue on the hike.
Overall a great weekend!