Travel Guide John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

This paleontological site extends into the John Day River basin, a green and fertile river bed that flows in the midst of a beautiful landscape of barren, yellow, yellow, beige and red hills. The location is about 650 m high. It contains an impressive number of late Eocene plant and animal fossils, about 44 million years ago. The National Monument extends over 56.43 km 2, on the river bed and the steppe and desert hills surrounding. These badlands are very colorful (green, ochre, red, orange) because of ores that dye sedimentary rocks.A museum was opened on the theme of fossils: The Thomas Condon Paleontology Center. You can also visit James Cant Ranch, a late nineteenth century ranch.