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around like a slow roller coaster offering views of Mount Jefferson and the Mutton and Ochoco ranges. Soon I arrived at U. S. Route 97 in Terrebonne and headed north, passing the town of Madras to stay right onto State Route 293 past Antelope and onto State Route 218 to
Clarno. The climate was warm and dry, 90 degrees, pleasant during summer with grasses, cacti, and willow trees.
Crossing the Clarno Bridge took me over the inviting dark blue John Day River. This area has deep canyons, oldgrowth ponderosa pines, and Native
Below left: The Clarno Bridge crosses the John Day River in the arid region west of the Cascades. Below right: The Palisades, at the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, was formed by volcanic mudflows.
American pictographs. The area is arid and desert-like, with sagebrush, juniper, and tall, sweeping red rock canyons. This is especially so near the town of Fossil, named after the numerous fossil beds in this volcanic ash area. I stopped at one, the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, for a walk in what was a tropical rainforest 40-50 million years ago. Afterwards, I mounted up and pressed on through the curvy, calescent rock canyons on