Oxidized minerals in volcanic ash spewed across the Eastern Oregon landscape thousands of years ago created these spectacular hills at the Painted Hills unit of the John Day Fossil Beds northwest of Dayville.

With wagons parked for the night and horses and mules turned out to pasture, the 12 people on the Oregon Statehood Wagon Train walked across the empty two-lane road toward supper.

From the fairgrounds RV park in Fossil, we drove two blocks north to Highway 19 and turned left.