10/3 Drive from Columbia River to Dayville OR

I'm going to end up with three posts for October 3 because I took a lot of photos today and don't want to overwhelm you with an extremely long post.  

I found this drive interesting because it was not what I expected and because I found the variety of land and plants I drove through in less than 140 miles very interesting.  Most of eastern Oregon looks like this, dry, flat grasslands, burned brown from the heat this time of year:

 

 Most of the grassland is planted and farmed.  I liked this old farmhouse.

Some places have gently rolling hills. 

Fantastic highway, by the way.  Hardly any vehicles and recently paved so smooth and very easy to drive on. 

Oocasionally you will see a large grain storage facility. 

So, I was surprised when I ran into some trees along the way.  These were hunkered down in the shade on this small valley. 

But as I kept driving, I realized I had climbed from about 400 feet above see level at the Columbia River to 2,500 feet above sea level.  And the higher I got, the more trees I saw. 

At this point, I was at about 4,000 feet so I saw a lot of Ponderosa Pine.  Makes me think of Hoss Cartwright and to sing the old TV song. 

Over the pass and headed downhill.   Things are looking more like high desert. 

As you head south, you get into a lot of volcanic areas.  Most of these hills and cliffs are made of hardened ash, not volcanic flows.  And we are now entering a very pretty canyon, which is part of the John Day Fossil National Monument. 

We are following the John Day River, which is the same river LePage Campground is located where I camped a couple of weeks ago, but it is much shallower and full of rocks here, so no jet boats. 

I stopped at a pull-over as I exited the canyon so I could take some photos of the river and the monument sign.  

 

By the way, if you are wondering who the heck John Day was, here is part of the story.   He was a fur trapper in 1812 who was attacked by Indians along the Columbia River near where the John Day River is today.  They stole everything he owned, including the clothes he was wearing.  However, there are other stories about him, true or untrue, but they ended up naming a river, a dam, two towns, a national monument, and a lot of other things in this area after him!  http://www.cityofjohnday.com/community/page/who-was-john-day  

Anyway, he must have been quite a character.