Pacific Northwest’s Top 25 - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 20

Pacific Northwest's Top 25

John Day Fossil Beds

JEFFERY PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES ©

18 It's hard to believe that hillsides can be so colorful, until you visit this

amazing site ( Click here ). Kaleidoscopic layers of red, gold, orange and
brown mineral deposits decorate the landscape, and the hues can change dra-
matically. There are fossils, too - the bones of small horses, rhinos, primates and
sabertooth-like cats have been (and are still being) uncovered. It's like an eerie
moon surface, all created by volcanic eruptions and erosion over millions of
years, and named after a man famous for getting robbed and stripped naked by
Native Americans.