[MCaver]

Anyone ever been to the Painted Hills in NE Oregon? I'm thinking of a 3-day weekend trip down there soon for wildflower season if the weather ever clears. I'm looking for the best route there (scenic and/or fastest) and maybe other attractions in the area.

[Mentalfloss]

I'll assume you're coming from the north. If you like a more lonely road I'd take the Biggs exit off of I-84 and get on highway 206 to Condon then 19 to Fossil. South of Fossil on 19 is the Shelton Wayside. You can camp there and it's a pretty nice place. The John Day Fossil Beds is broken up into units. The Painted Hills is just one part. Like most such places it's best at dawn or sunset, and especially after a drizzle. In Fossil, behind the high school, at the end of the football field, there's a leaf fossil bed open to the public. Take a hammer and thin chisel and collect some dawn redwood, ginko and other leaf fossils. You can pretty much roam at will in this entire area. There's a lot of stark beauty all around. South of the town of John Day there are some really nice camping spots up high in the Ponderosas. Have fun

[MCaver]

Thanks for the info, mentalfloss. I'll be driving down from the Seattle and am not sure if i should go I-5 to Portland then southeast or east on I-90 then south. I'm looking for the most scenic route, since photography is my gig. The camping spot info should be useful. Thanks.

[Mentalfloss]

Driving over the shoulder of Mt. Hood, with a side trip up to Timberline, then ahead on hgwy. 26 across the reservation and on out to Fossil is a nice trip. Make a loop of it and go back via the Columbia River Gorge.

[Dslayer]

I'll second Mentalfloss on the Shelton Wayside-pretty nice spot...if you're interested in something pretty primitive, I recommmed Sutton Mtn--a pretty unique spot with no trails into it--the directions are kind of exhaustive, but if you're interested I can do them--not really too far south of the Shelton Wayside. I've never really been in there during this time of year but I imagine its greened up pretty good about now.

[MCaver]

I'm interested in those directions if you care to post them, but I'm only going to have 3 days to drive down and back, so I'll be pretty limited on what I can do this trip. According to a website that I can't find again, late April/early May is wildflower season for that area, and the yellow flowers accent the colors in the hills very nicely.

[Dslayer]

Mcaver- I'm doing this from memory, don't have a map in front of in me--but I think this description is right. Take 19 east out of Fossil-you'll cross a pass of sorts--as you head down the east side(Service Ck) within a 1 mile or so--maybe farther a good road goes off to your right--this is the Twickenham Rd. If you get to the Shelton Wayside on Hwy. 19 you have gone too far and if my faded memory serves me, the wayside is only shortly past the Twickenham Road---you won't have a bunch of roads to choose from. You'll cross the John Day River, the road will swing east past a huge house then swing sharply back to the South again--as you start to head south you'll have a dry watercourse on your right-this is Gird Creek-you begin going uphill and the major part of this watercourse will turn to the Southwest into the hills there-this is Sutton Mtn. Park where the road starts to run away from the dry watercourse--it follows another section of Gird Creek into a canyon--there's a place you can pulloff there-I've camped there before. Then essentially you follow that watercourse up as high as you want to go up onto Sutton Mtn--some places the creek--where it actually runs passes through spots barely wide enough to get through-about a mile and a half in--you reach a fairly broad spot with some trees-I've camped in there-but the ultimate spot is farther up the watercourse in about the last place you'll find water---the watercourse will turn pretty sharply to the west, follow it and as it nears the top of the ridge that is Sutton Mtn you'll figure it out. From the campsite you can follow the creek-such as it is-to the west-or go north over the breaks of the John Day-or go S which is the highest point of Sutton Mtn-views of the Ochocos. I've never seen another person and damn little sign of people in here-lots of antelope, some deer and it's a wintering site for elk herds---it's cool.