Visiting Painted Hills at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Review

If you’ve ever searched for the most Instagrammable photo spots in Oregon, chances are you’ve seen pictures of the Painted Hills area of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Because, frankly, that’s how I found out about this place and it’s why I wanted to visit. The rugged landscape, the beautiful colors on the rock formations and the ‘are-we-on-Mars” look to the red cones put it high on my list! The Painted Hills are also considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. Here, I’ll share with you my best tips, when to visit and general information and my personal review of the Painted Hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links where I might earn a small commission at no cost to you. This keeps my website up and running! This is not a sponsored post.

Painted Hills – John Day Fossil Beds General Overview

• Free to visit
• Dogs are allowed on the trails
• This is one of three units in the John Day Fossil Beds NM
• Bring water and a picnic lunch – no food or drinks here!

Getting to the Painted Hills – Location

The Painted Hills is part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which is composed of three different units, spread out over central Oregon. The Painted Hills is one of these units – the other two being Sheep Rock and Clarno.

The closest ‘major’ city is Bend, Oregon, which is about 2 hours west of the Painted Hills. The map below shows the route from Prineville, Oregon to the Painted Hills area. If you’re coming from Bend or Prineville, you’ll drive through the Ochoco National Forest, also known as the “Journey Through Time Scenic Byway” – the highway gets a little wind-y and curvy as you travel through the trees but it’s a nice drive.

Visiting the Painted Hills Unit at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

You’ll definitely want to put the Painted Hills on your GPS, as the turn off for the road can be easy to miss. Once you turn off the highway, the road to the Painted Hills turns to gravel – it’s very well-maintained, so don’t worry – any car can get down here.

My sister and I did two short hikes in the Painted Hills – Painted Hills Overlook and the much more famous Painted Cove Nature Trail. Both trailheads are located just a short drive away from each other.

Painted Hills Overlook Trail

This is a short, half-mile trail round trip walk up to the overlook of Painted Hills. The trail is at a slight incline and there are plenty of benches for resting or taking in the view as you go along. The colors of the bands of sediment in the rock formations are absolutely stunning!

There’s also plenty of reminders (“Don’t Hurt the Dirt!”) while on the trail to stay on the trail. Make sure you heed this warning to preserve the land for others for years to come!

Photography note: Visiting here in the morning hours will have you shooting directly in the sun. For the best photos, visit in the afternoon. My photos were taken around 12-1pm.

Painted Cove Nature Trail

This short nature trail is the one that all the insta-attention – it’s a must-do if you’re here. I thought that this area was much, much smaller than what it ‘seemed’ to be online (I don’t know why I thought it was bigger). The boardwalk takes you through the red cinder mounds and ash, and you can get some fantastic photos.

Not only will you get some great photos, there are plenty of placards as you walk along the boardwalks to give you additional information on the geology of the nearby rock formations.

Best time to visit the Painted Hills for the coolest photos

We messed this up – our photos don’t really “pop” like many of the others I’ve seen online, so I was a little disappointed. We arrived practically at high noon, which was not an ideal time to visit, and our photos look really washed out – but it was the only chance we had to see this, and sometimes road trips just work out that way. The best time to visit the Painted Hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument for photography is late afternoon – you’ll get to see the strong colors of the rocks really come alive in both your photos and in person!

We visited in early August and it was very hot here! Fall would be a great time to visit the Painted Hills, as you’ll still have chances for sunny weather, but the temps will be much cooler. Also, visiting here just after a rainstorm will also make the colors of the rocks more saturated.

Amenities in the Painted Hills

This is a very rural area and this particular National Park Service Unit doesn’t have much in the way of visitor services. There is no visitor center / gift shop here (boo!), (and there’s no place to get your National Park passport book stamp!) but there is a nice, grassy, shaded picnic area that we took advantage of and had a nice lunch. Pit toilets are also available. At the picnic area, there is a small ranger kiosk that’s usually manned by a ranger, but no one was there during our visit – if someone was here, perhaps we could’ve gotten our books stamped, but I can’t be certain).

The main visitor center is located in the Sheep Rock unit, at the Thomas Condon Paleontology Center in Kimberly, Oregon. This is about an hour east of the Painted Hills. We didn’t have time to do this during our visit.

Where to Stay when visiting the Painted Hills:

The closest two towns to the Painted Hills are Prineville and Mitchell. When my sister and I visited, we stayed in Bend, which is two hours away, one way. I don’t recommend staying in Bend to see the Painted Hills unless you’re on your way to somewhere else (we had to be in Klamath Falls shortly after this so we needed to get further than Prineville that day!). So I’d recommend Prineville or Mitchell if you want to stay close – both towns are pretty small but they do offer a mix of chain hotels and “mom and pop” motels. Mitchell is the smaller of the two towns, so if you need more choices of restaurants or shops, I’d stay in Prineville.

Check out the list of hotels in Prineville or Mitchell and book your stay.

Painted Hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon – Final Thoughts

This is definitely one of the coolest spots in Oregon to see – it’s very unique – you almost feel like you’re on another planet. However, it’s way out in the middle of nowhere, so you definitely need to make an effort to visit. It’s also a little disappointing (and surprising!) that there is no visitor center here – I imagine that the Painted Hills unit is probably the most popular of the three park unit areas.

Have you ever visited the Painted Hills in Oregon? What did you think?