John Day Fossil Beds National Monument IX – Blue Basin


Welcome to John Carr Outdoors! 

Please visit the blog and follow. The follow button can be found at the bottom of the page. 

If you are seeing this on Facebook, click the link to visit the blog to see all of the photos.

From Pre-pandemic Days

In early October I spent five days in the John Day country. On the third day of the trip I journeyed to the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

After a pleasant hike into Blue Basin on the The Island in Time Trail, I took the much tougher three-mile Blue Basin Overlook Trail.

Blue Basin (Notice the footbridge on the Island in Time Trail)

The trail provided great views 600 feet down into the bluish-green amphitheater. There were some nice vistas over the John Day River Valley too.

Even though I was still fighting a miserable cold, it was an amazing outing.

Juniper bark

Looking north over the top of Blue Basin

Late afternoon light on Cathedral Rock

Hikers heading down the trail into the John Day River Valley

Categories: Eastern Oregon OutingsTags: ,

2 comments

  1. WOW

  2. Lovely to visit eastern OR with you, John. How magnificent Blue Basin and the John Day country are!

Leave a Reply

Discover more from John Carr Outdoors

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading