AUGUST 2009    PAGE  6                         |previous page | index | next page|

Wednesday, August 26 - Phillips lake to Mule Shoe

Camped at Phillips Lake last night. To get here, you take 86 from Hells Canyon to Baker City (pizza yesterday), then west on 7.

This morning, we are heading west to Sumpter, an old gold mining town, and then west on 7 towards John Day, and north on 19 past Spray.

An osprey nest on the way.

Sumpter is a nice little town.  Most interesting was the dredge.

The town of John Day is fairly big, site of gold mining, and an old Chinese settlement (Kam Wah Chung).  The Chinese worked the gold fields, and then left with everyone else when the gold played out. One man, stayed, a Chinese "doctor", who knew all of the old medicinal techniques and herbs which were at that time more effective than our medicine, so he had people come far and wide for his services.

Just as hwy 7 meets hwy 19 north, there starts a series of outcroppings known as the John Day fossil beds.  Reminded us of Utah.

We stopped at the Visitor Center. Ed found the building attractive.

This is the view opposite the Visitor Center. Can't see the colors too well in this photo.

Color is more evident in this photo at a rest area a few miles north.

Cathedral rock and John Day river.

Mule shoe campground, a few miles west of Spray, where we spent the night.

Quite a day!

 |previous page | index | next page|