Clarno Palisades
John Day Fossil Beds NM
The mostly grassy hillsides bordering Pine Creek are interrupted for a mile or so by a line of jagged, eroded cliffs - the Palisades - which contain a large number of plant fossils, including leaves, sticks and trunks, plus less common animal fossils, all relics of a time when this region was moist and well vegetated, unlike the arid, high desert conditions that prevail today. Photo © copyright by Robert Faucher.