Painted Hills Overlook — Attraction in Prineville

The Painted Hills unit is open year-round with easy access for all visitors. There are a handful of well-marked trails to guide you through the park. As the area is fairly open and level, these are considered more of a moderate walk than a hike. The Painted Hills Overlook Trail is ½ mile, and provides views of the most popular viewing point. At another section of the unit is the Painted Cove Trail at ¼ mile in length. Much of this trail is on a boardwalk which offers an extremely close-up view of the Painted Coves and their entire burnt red and orange glow.

Visible from the Painted Coves is a view of a picturesque reservoir that is inaccessible as it is private land. The Leaf Hill Trail at ¼ mile takes you to the location of significant scientific studies in the 1920s and 1990s where thousands of leaf fossils were found and preserved. The recently developed Red Hill Trail at ¼ mile is located at the far western edge of the unit and was created as a short walk to a colorful lookout. A slightly longer hike is the Carroll Rim Trail at 1 ½ miles. This trail takes you three hundred feet in elevation to an overlook atop the Painted Hills.

The trails in the area are short and purposeful, in order to keep visitors away from the delicate hills. The “paintings” are so incredibly delicate that a man-made foot track can scar the hills for many years. Therefore, extreme caution is advised and full respect for the landscape...

What a great place to visit! Beautiful scenery, interesting information provided on why the rocks, cliffs, mountains look they way they do! If you or your kids have any interest in Paleontology, Geology, fossils, etc... this is the place to visit! There are 3 'units' to the John Day Fossil Beds .. The Painted Rock Unit, The Sheep Rock Unit & The Clarno Unit. The Sheep Rock Unit has The Thomas Condon Paleontology Center & The Cant Ranch Museum. The paleontology Center was amazing! We didn't have a chance to go through the Cant Ranch Museum, but I'm positive it was informative. Each 'unit' had hiking trails and many scenic views to enjoy. Unfortunately, we were not able to spend much time in the Clarno Unit sure to time constraints. One thing you need to be sure of .. make sure you have a full tank of gas before going. There's a lot of driving going on between the units & not many...

#7WondersOfOregon *The #PaintedHills The Hills' colors originate from 35 million years ago. The colored bands are due to changes in climate that occurred as they were distributed through time. As the climate changed to a more tropical setting with distinct wet and dry seasons. The green, yellow, red, orange, black, and even gold of the Painted Hills are beautiful at all times of the day, but are best lit for photography in the late afternoon. Changing light and moisture levels drastically affect the tones and hues visible in the hills. The seasons can also change the look of the Painted...