Portland 2019: Cottonwood Canyon State Park, Oregon

The John Day River

Before we hopped a plane to Missouri, we had time (and good weather) for one final mini-trip: a two-night camping trip with Gary to Cottonwood Canyon State Park in the desert of central Oregon.

Cottonwood Canyon was once a ranch, but was recently acquired by the state and transformed into a brand-new park full of amazing facilities— lush campsites along the willow-clad John Day River, camper cabins, bike amenities, free bikes to use while you're there, board games to borrow, a solar charging station, showers, and more! The arid hills rise up on all sides, but are widely-spaced to keep you from getting claustrophobic. 

Our first day, we set up camp and hiked the Pinnacles Trail, which took us 4.3 miles (and possibly further, when we consulted the map) down Cottonwood Canyon and sideways into Esau Canyon, all the while paralleling the river. Ravens wheeled far overhead, sparrows chirped from the underbrush, and we saw many deer hoof prints in the sand. The river reflected the yellowish hills and the blue sky, creating an intense melting palette of blue and orange. 

That night, some clouds rolled in, but we were still able to see some stars, including the thick band of the Milky Way. 

The next day, we did an hour-long road trip over the plateau and amongst huge lines of windmills to the town of Fossil. A chatty and helpful woman at the Oregon Paleo Lands Institute Center gave us directions to a field where we could dig fossils in exchange for a small donation to the local high school. We walked through the sleepy town, climbed a hill, ducked behind the high school, paid a fee, grabbed some of the tools in a crate, and began shoveling through the dirt on a hillside in search of fossils of 40-million-year-old pines, alders, and maples.

It took us a while to get our "fossil eyes" on, but once we did, we found a lot! We took pictures of many, but only kept a few. I searched through shards, while Zach chiseled apart layered rocks to find the fossils sandwiched in between.

That night, back at Cottonwood Canyon, we walked a three-mile trail up the canyon, then started a charcoal briquet fire (regular campfires were forbidden due to sparks) and roasted marshmallows. Some rain spat on us, but it never got too bad.

Zach said that the rocks around here look like low-resolution computer graphics because they're just shards.

The next day we drove home, and Zach and I quickly shifted gears into finishing up our final packing. But I was very glad we got the chance to visit this slice of Oregon's beautiful desert.

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