Home Sweet Home

Day 20: Burns, OR to White Salmon, WA via John Day Fossil Beds
312 miles

Our last day on the road. Of course, we did not go straight home. We had two more stops to make. The first was at the Visitor Center at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. We'd been there before, but it's such a great Visitor Center, we couldn't help ourselves. Then we detoured to the Clarno Unit , which we missed on our last trip here. When you see these palisades, you know you're in the right place!

"The Clarno Unit is located 18 miles west of the town of Fossil. The Palisades are the most prominent landform. 44 million years ago a series of volcanic mudflows, swept up and perserved a diverse assortment of plants and animals that inhabited a near-tropical forest. Tiny four-toed horses, huge rhino-like brontotheres, crocodilians, and meat-eating creodonts that once roamed ancient jungles are now found in the rocks of the Clarno Unit, as well as an incredibly diverse range of plant life. Leaves, fruits, nuts, seeds, and petrified wood from 173 species of trees, vines, shrubs, and other plants have been found here thus far."

Here's my personal geologist pointing out some fossils for me to see.

 This little guy was just trying to blend in.

 The trail was quite nice, as we walked from the parking area over to the palisades.

 At the top of the trail was this great arch. Personal

Geologist for scale. Petrified logs stick out fo the rock walls.

 It looked like we were going to get stormed on, but mercifully, it held off until we were on our way.

 A few hours later, we pulled in to 1440 Brislawn Loop Rd. The daffodils greeted us.

As did our flowering plum tree. Ahhhhhh. Home at Last!

Grand Total: 5,274 miles, give or take a few!!