Park Hours (Today)
All Day
Thomas Condon Visitor Center: 10:00AM - 4:00PM
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About the Park
Large rhino-like brontotheres roam a semitropical forest. Dog-sized, three-toed horses dart between the trees. The cat-like nimravid and bear dogs stalk their prey. The climate cools and forests alter to dryer grasslands. Saber tooth cats and camels get replaced by mountain lions and deer. Paleontologists learn more about the ancient animals and environment with every new fossil they discover.
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What to See & Do
John Day Fossil Beds Junior Ranger Program
Become a John Day Fossil Beds Junior Ranger
Layers of Life: Stories of Ancient Oregon
Layers of Life: Stories of Ancient Oregon
Fossil Gallery
Fossil gallery
Thomas Condon Overlook Trail
This 0.25 mi (0.4 km) long trail starts at the far end of the Thomas Condon Visitor Center parking lot and ends at an overlook of the river valley.
Trail of Fossils
The Trail of Fossils is 0.25 mi (0.4 km) long and is the best trail in the monument to see real fossils. Look for leaf imprints and pieces of wood within the boulders that have fallen from the cliffs. No collecting is allowed and please stay on trail.
Story in Stone Trail
The mostly level Story in Stone Trail loops through dramatic pillars of blue-green claystone rocks that make up the Turtle Cove formation of John Day Fossil Beds. Before the trail intersection, the walkway is paved for 900 ft (275 m). Please stay on trail, no collecting permitted, and keep your pets leashed.
Self-Guided Tours
Cant Ranch Walking Tour
This is a story of rugged ranching life from the late 1800s through the 1900s. Seasonal ranch rhythms contrast against changing lives and times. Two families, the Officers and the Cants, made a life here. Follow the guide and step back into a world of hard work and challenges. Numbers on the map correspond to stops along your walk. Information in the guide will be found next to the corresponding number. Using this guide, it should take about 45 minutes to an hour to explore the Cant Ranch.
Clarno Unit - Arch Trail Guided Hike
Imagine yourself in a semi-tropical environment like Florida or Mexico. Palms, swamps, and even crocodiles once covered the landscape, which are now fossils preserved in the Palisades and fallen rocks around you. Fossil leaf imprints of tropical-loving flora imprinted in the boulders tell a story about the ancient environment. Discovering these fossils shaped the way scientists and visitors alike understand and appreciate Oregon’s past. What are you hoping to discover during your visit to the Clarno Unit?
Visitor Centers
Thomas Condon Visitor Center
Located in the Sheep Rock Unit, the Thomas Condon Visitor Center is a National Park Service research facility containing an outstanding paleontology lab dedicated to the John Day Fossil Beds. Picture windows let you view the working laboratory and collections room with over 60,000 specimens. In the fossil museum gallery, you can walk through nearly 50-million years of the Age of Mammals. Hundreds of fossil specimens are displayed, along with eight large murals depicting plants and animals of the time.
Historic Cant Ranch Museum
Enjoy the exhibits on the ground floor of the Historic Cant Ranch Museum located in the Sheep Rock Unit. It features artifacts from some of the Native Americans who inhabited the region and stories from homesteaders describing early ranch life. Learn about James and Elizabeth Cant's experience immigrating to John Day Basin from Scotland in the early 1900s, raising a family, and living off the land until their deaths in the early 1970s.
Getting Here & Transit
How to Get Here
John Day Fossil Beds encompasses 14,000 acres in three geographically separated units in Oregon: Sheep Rock Unit, Painted Hills Unit, and Clarno Unit. The Sheep Rock Unit is located between the towns of Dayville and Kimberly. The Painted Hills Unit is located 9 miles northwest of of the town of Mitchell. The Clarno Unit is located on Highway 218 twenty miles west of the town of Fossil.
Park Amenities
Operating Hours
Outdoor Recreation Areas
All outdoor recreation opportunities in the park are open daily, including all overlooks and hiking trails at the park’s three units: Sheep Rock, Painted Hills, and Clarno.
- MondayAll Day
- TuesdayAll Day
- WednesdayAll Day
- ThursdayAll Day
- FridayAll Day
- SaturdayAll Day
- SundayAll Day
Live Webcams
Click any camera to open the live feed on the NPS website.
Paleo Lab Web Cam
The paleo lab web cam views the fossil preparation workspace. Under a microscope using a pencil-shaped tool called an air scribe, the fossil preparator removes rock from a fossil. Watch as fossils are prepared for display and research.
Painted Hills Unit: Carroll Rim
The webcam points towards the northwest at Carroll Rim, a 2430 ft (741 m) hill capped by ignimbrite, or a massive pyroclastic deposit. The ignimbrite sits on top of the Turtle Cove member of the John Day formation. The iconic painted hills are not visible in this image, but the view gives a good approximation of what the weather may be like at the Painted Hills Unit.
Sheep Rock Unit Cam
Sheep Rock is one of the magnificent centerpieces of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Located just across the John Day River from the Thomas Condon Visitor Center, it rises over 1,000 feet above the valley floor. Colorful, fossil-rich volcanic ash layers can be seen on its slope. The camera is located at an elevation of approximately 2,100'.
Painted Hills Unit: Carroll Rim
Description: The webcam points towards the northwest at Carroll Rim, a 2430 ft (741 m) hill capped by ignimbrite, or a massive pyroclastic deposit. The ignimbrite sits on top of the Turtle Cove member of the John Day formation. The iconic painted hills are not visible in this image, but the view gives a good approximation of what the weather may be like at the Painted Hills Unit.
Sheep Rock Unit
Description: Sheep Rock is one of the magnificent centerpieces of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Located just across the John Day River from the Thomas Condon Visitor Center, it rises over 1,000 feet above the valley floor. Colorful, fossil-rich volcanic ash layers can be seen on its slope. The camera is located at an elevation of approximately 2,100'.
Photos
Clarno
Paleontologist at work
White house surrounded by green with concrete path leading to the front
Tall sandy cliff face overlooking a small, shallow river
When to Go
Crowd CalendarPlan your trip around peak seasons to avoid crowds or embrace the energy of the busy months. Our crowd predictions are based on historical NPS Visitor Use Statistics.
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Best Time
May-September
Trip Length
1 day
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