Globetrotting Grandies: Tuesday 14th August 2018

Sunday 12th August 2018 - Smith Rock State Park

Today we found an amazing state park called Smith Rock. It became world famous in the mid 1080's as a rock climbing destination and offers routes for beginning to expert climbers. It was formed around 30 million years ago when a caldera was formed by the sudden collapse of overlying rock into an underground reservoir of molten rock. The resulting eruptions produced massive amounts of ash and debris, nearly filling the caldera. These deposits eventually hardened into rock. The largest is Smith Rock Tuff, located on the western rim.

Last night we stayed at Expo RV Park which is situated at the local fairgrounds in Deschutes County. They happened to have a horse camp drafting competition on while we were there so we had bonus entertainment.

Notice the kangaroos on the sign. There is an Australian guy here who is quite well known for making great saddles.

Smith Rock

The ranger had a gopher snake that you could touch

Crazy climbers almost to the top

Map of Australia? Use your imagination

After lunch we drove on to find the John Day Fossil Beds. So named because they lie on the John Day River. This river used to be the Mah Hah River before a guy named John Day had all his goods stolen by the river and they then changed the name of the river to John Day. The guy himself never set foot on the fossil beds. This site has the largest diversity of fossils both plant and animal in all of America.

Painted Hills

Sheep Rock

Saw a couple of coyotes on the way in.

After a great day we drove into the national forest for a free camp for the night.

Monday 13th August 2018 - Blue Basin

Today we've gone into another section of the John Day Fossil Beds to a place called Blue Basin Island in time trail where the sides of the cliffs are a distinct bluish colour caused by minerals in the clay. It was so unusual and fascinating. After that we made camp at Bates State Park.