Painted Cove
Mitchell,
Oregon
Overview
The Painted Cove trail is located in the Painted Hills Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. The short trail, clocking in at under a half mile, loops through multi-colored rock formations on a raised boardwalk and dirt trail, and has a number of small interpretive signs along the trail detailing the geologic conditions which resulted in the various colors of the rocks. If you are short on time while visiting the Painted Hills Unit, this trail offers impressive rock colors in a very short distance and is highly recommended.
Directions
Parking
Trip Reports
For our journey back home to Manson from Bend, we opted to head a bit east and check out the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It's an area we had never been to and likely wouldn't have another chance to see it anytime soon, so we decided the couple of additional hours tacked on to the trip would be worth it, or so we hoped.
The Painted Hills unit attracted me because of the vibrant colors, something I associate more with Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Given the long drive ahead, I was looking for the most "bang for the buck" - a short hike that would take us through some of the more interesting geological features, and the Painted Cove trail fit the bill.
There were only two other cars at the trailhead, and a couple more cars showed up while we were there, but in general the National Monument was fairly empty - not sure if that would be the case during the summer, but I imagine the location and the fact it's a monument means a lot less crowds than the national parks. The trail splits in two at the start, and we opted to do it clockwise and take a left onto the boardwalk.
The boardwalk takes you past yellow colored mounds on your right before passing straight between red mounds. It wasn't hard to envision we were on Mars or some other planet, with the color and texture of the soil and rocks being very different to anything I have seen in the Pacific Northwest. While it is similar to what we have seen in southern Utah and Northern Arizona, it was still spectacular and even my nine year old son agreed it was worth the extra drive out here.
There were interpretive signs along the way, explaining the conditions that resulted in the various colors. It looked like the trail split to head higher up, but I wasn't sure if it was a trail and we kept on our way. A little ways further we noticed a sign up above and decided to doubleback and head up the side trail, which had a nice view from the top.
Heading back down to the main trail, we continued the loop around, marveling at the different hues of the rock. While it was predominately red, there were yellows, oranges and even grays as well.
We came down the final stretch and I kept taking photos - I don't know that I have ever taken so many photos on such a short hike, but the colors were striking. It was a mostly cloudy day, but when rays of sun broke through the cloud cover, it altered the colors we were seeing.
It was a great short hike. Unfortunately we had a long drive ahead of us, and other than a quick stop at the Painted Hills Overlook, we didn't get a chance to hike or explore other areas. But based on what we saw, I think Painted Cove must be one of the better hikes in the Painted Hills Unit.
