Bend to John Day (Oct 11-14)

I'm way behind on this blog - wifi was impossible to come by in Eastern Oregon and Nevada, but now I'm at Death Valley National Park and the visitor center has wifi, so I'll try to get caught up.

I left Bend on Thursday October 11. I sure had fun visiting Cidney and Maggie - thanks so much Cidney for putting up with me!

From Bend I drove over to Clyde Holiday State Park, near John Day. It was a nice campground, but right off Hwy 26, so I could hear cars all night.

Friday Oct 12 I spent touring the John Day Fossil Beds Sheeprock unit. An amazing place! I took a couple short hikes there - this is where I stopped to have my lunch.















In the late afternoon I drove over to Dunstan Homestead, a Nature Conservancy Preserve on the middle fork of the John Day river. I spent the weekend there as part of a volunteer work party, camping on the preserve. It was really a beautiful place.
















We planted sedge along the riverbank and helped remove some fencing. The days were sunny and gorgeous, but the nights were really cold. Yes, that's a heavy frost coating my tent! Brrr!! I broke out the down sleeping bag and was comfy in my tent, but opening that ice coated rainfly zipper in the morning was a real challenge!

















I'm getting hungry, so I'm gonna go back to my campsite and have some dinner - unfortunately the NPS doesn't run to wifi at the campsites, so that's all for today. I'll continue tomorrow and hopefully get caught up.