Day 7 starts out at 52 degrees – chilly! I was rolling slightly before 0600 local, headed for the Clarno unit, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. To get there, I had to navigate another pass with tight 10 mph curves – it took half an hour to go 17 miles. The real attraction for this unit is the palisade cliffs, more than the rocks with leaf impressions.
A second, similar pass takes me to the town of Clarno; traffic has fortunately very light. I cross the John Day River (again) there, Clarno to Shaniko – more passes. I come out of one pass to see a beautiful hillside in the morning light.
Another pass gives me a panorama view of 7 Cascade volcanoes, and no place to stop for a picture. After Shaniko, I head for Maupin on Bakeoven Road. A huge, industrial-sized solar farm takes up a lot of desert-like acreage. I did find a place to try some shots of the distant mountains.
I arrived at Maupin at 0845 and meet cousins Margaret & Dixie for the first time. They’re descended from my great-grandfather’s youngest brother, Joseph Truman – he came to Oregon sometime after the CW and married a lumber baron’s daughter.
We tour some sites related to their branch of the family and sites in the area where they grew up. They show me white-water rafting on the Deschutes River, an interesting waterfall,
and petroglyphs,
For the day: 71.0 mile, for the trip 2034.5
Tomorrow: TBD
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