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6 • THINGS TO DO 2013
well-known place for hiking, camping, and
wildlife viewing. In season, mostly May
through July, the wildflowers can be
spectacular.Wildlife is abundant. To get
there, travel east from Prineville, along US
26, then to the Ochoco Ranger Station,
and turn right on FS Road 42. One
direction, it's a 34-mile trip, or about one
hour on the scenic, twisty road.
Another site in the Forest and worth a
visit is Stein's Pillar. Named after an 1860s-
era explorer, Major Enoch Steen, and
misspelled, the formation rises 350 feet
above the land below, serving as sentinel
to the adjacent Mill Creek Valley.
To see Stein's Pillar, take US 26 east from
Prineville for about 10 miles, and then turn
left on Mill Creek Road. After about nine
miles, there's a parking area on the right.
You can also hike to the pillar by turning
off Mill Creek Road a couple of miles
earlier, and then drive two miles to the
trailhead. It's about a two-mile hike to the
base.
If fossils are your forté, you won't want
to miss the Painted Hills Unit of the John
Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It's a
short, 49-mile, scenic drive east of
Prineville, just north of US 26, near
Mitchell, Ore. Accessible year round, it
offers scenic vistas, colorful layers of
volcanic clays, and several interpretive
trails. There is also a developed area for
picnics.
Once your appetite for paleontology
has been whetted, and if you have the
time, continue east along US 26 for
another 35 miles, and then turn north on
SR 19. In about two miles, you'll come to
the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center,
the heart of the National Monument and a
state-of-the-art research facility. Here you'll
see exhibits and audiovisual presentations
on fossils, geology, and the processes of
paleontology. Interpretive programs are
also available, and you might even see a
real, live, paleontologist at work! Just
across the road is the Cant Ranch
Museum, which serves as the Monument's
headquarters.
North, and then some
Three well-known, and well-used state
parks are in northern Deschutes and
Jefferson counties - Smith Rock, Peter
Skene Ogden Wayside, and The Cove
Palisades State Park.
Smith Rock State Park, nine miles
northeast of Redmond, straddles the
Crooked River, but is internationally known
for its rock climbing. In fact, it is said to be
the birthplace of modern American sport
climbing.
While you're in the area, continue north
on US 97, to the bridge that crosses the
Crooked River. This is the Peter Skene
Ogden State Wayside, named after an early
19th century fur trapper and explorer. The
basalt canyon walls at this point are near
vertical, with the Wayside's overlook 300 feet
above the river. Hang on to your children and
pets!
The Cove Palisades State Park, 11 miles
southwest of Madras, is the most visited state
park east of the Cascades, according to park
officials. It is here that Round Butte Dam,
constructed in the 1960s, created Lake Billy
Chinook, a 4,000-acre reservoir at the
confluence of three Central Oregon rivers -
Crooked, Deschutes, and Metolius.
Just outside The Cove Palisades is the
Round Butte Overlook Park, jointly managed
by Portland General Electric and the
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Here
you're treated to a birds-eye view of the
Round Butte Dam, an interpretive building,
and a grassy place for a picnic.
What would be a trip to Central Oregon
without visiting a real,Western ghost town?
Thirty-seven miles northeast of Madras
along US 97 rests the near-ghost town of
Shaniko, Ore. It's population of 26 (according
to the 2000 census) is a fraction of the 600
residents it boasted in 1910, less than a
decade after incorporation. Once known as
the "wool capital of the world," Shaniko was
an important terminus for wool producers
shipping their wares to market. Much of the
old town remains, including a hotel, jail,
school, and church, with some structures
recently renovated.