Painted Hills & Lake Billy Chinook

Once again I visited Oregon's Painted Hills this Spring to check out its wildflowers, especially hoping that the golden bee plant (Cleome Platycarpa) would be blooming. This plant must have continuously moist conditions through the entire winter and early spring if it is to bloom. And once-in-a-blue-moon it highlights the Hill's fold/gully bottoms for an amazing image. I also used this overnight trip to put my new van, Starr, through his paces.

After camping just outside the park's boundary, I awoke at dawn to a Western Meadowlark's song and drove Starr to the Hill's central viewpoint, where I had breakfast while the sun rose over the scene before me. There were some golden bee plant blooming this year, but not where you usually find it in the hill's lower & wetter creases & folds. Instead, the bloom was capping the hills, where you'd expect the soil to be drier. And the Hill's red bands were very muted. This was surprising to me since it was apparent that the area had had a severe thunderstorm during the past week, and I had thought that damp soil accenuated the colors...so much for that theory.

I then returned to Bend via Fossil, John Day Fossil Beds' Clarno Unit, and the Palisades above Lake Billy Chinook. The sunset over the lake, with the Cascades in the distance, was sublime and I'm pleased with some of the images.

Panoramas Tap/click on a pano's thumbnail to show an interactive, moving panorama; use the on-screen control bar or your finger/mouse to move around:

Lake Billy Chinook Sunset:

Image Gallery – Tap/click to view individual image, then swipe to advance (use optional controls for auto play, index, or share menu):