Continuing from my previous post after sharing the plans of how to get to the area plus a stop in ghost town Shaniko, today I continue on with our experience and tips for visiting the Clarno Unit and Sheep Rock Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Park. Then my next post will cover visiting the famous Painted Hills, one of the seven wonders of Oregon.
There is no park pass or fee needed to visit any of the units. The colors of the units look best in the afternoon light, leaving you time to drive or sleep in if staying nearby before your visit. While it is possible to see all three in one day, you will need to account for one to two hours of drive time between each unit (not counting getting to the area first), and you won’t be able to enjoy all the trails so per my advice overnight at least 1 night preferably 2 nights nearby. That said both of these two units are ok to see earlier in the day to save the afternoon to sunset time for the Painted Hills for the biggest return on display and range of colors there. If you encounter rain, I would prioritize visiting in this order Painted Hills, Sheep Rock, then Clarno Unit.
Clarno Unit
The Clarno Unit is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Park along with the Sheep Rock Unit and the Painted Hills. It is the smallest of the three units and IMHO I would rank it #3 in terms of beauty of the three, though part of it might is that Painted Hills and Sheep Rock offer more uniqueness. It’s the fastest to visit with three trails, and may be conveniently already on the way if coming from Portland.
The Clarno Unit is famous for its plant fossils and the Palisades. Located 1.5 hr north of the Painted Hills, it’s a little over 30 minutes from Shaniko so if you’re taking the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway from Portland, you could easily stop by on your way towards Mitchell and the Painted Hills.
In an area where you probably have been driving through valleys between gently rounded green hillsides, you will then come across these tall walls and towers of reddish orange, pink, white layers of rock. These are remnants from when this area was once a lush jungle 40-54 million years ago, and these cliffs were formed from volcanic mudslides or lahar, happening over and over building the layers you see today. 
Among the layers and along the trailside you can find plant fossils including leaves, sticks, and petrified logs. No, no dinosaur fossils so reel in expectations accordingly. But the area is incredibly fossil rich – paleontologists have been making discoverers and categorizing hundreds of fossils a year since the 1860s! Seeing the strata of the remnants of millions of years is fascinating to look at.
