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Eastern Oregon is sure to amaze. Among its extensive farmlands and desert plateaus are stunning attractions: the gorgeous snowy peaks of the Wallowa Mountains; Hells Canyon, which dips deeper than the Grand Canyon; the John Day Fossil Beds, with their eerily colorful hills and rock formations; and the incredible glacier-carved valleys of the Steens Mountain range.
This slice of Oregon was the last arduous passage the pioneers traversed on their journey west; in some places you can see where their wagon ruts carved out the Oregon Trail. Gold was discovered in the region in the 1860s – making and breaking dozens of towns and cities – and there's also rich Native American history in towns like Joseph.
With a rodeo in every town and the Old West still palpable in spots, visiting Eastern Oregon is like a trip back in time – but forget the covered wagons and bring the digital camera instead.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Eastern Oregon.
Museum
This interpretive center is the nation's foremost memorial to the pioneers who crossed the West along the Oregon Trail. Lying atop a hill 7 miles east of Baker City, it contains interactive displays, artifacts and films that stress the day-to-day realities faced by the pioneers. Outside you can stroll along the 4.2-mile interpretive path system and spot the actual Oregon Trail.
National Park
Glacier-ripped valleys, high mountain lakes and marble peaks are some of the rewards that long-distance hikers find on overnight treks into the beautiful Eagle Cap Wilderness, nicknamed 'America's Little Switzerland.'
Canyon
Hells Canyon's most spectacular scenery is perhaps along Snake River, following 25 miles of paved road (Idaho's Rte 454) toward Hells Canyon Dam; here dramatic canyon walls loom almost vertically. The road goes along the Idaho border but is accessed via the southern end of the Wallowa Mountain Loop, near Oxbow. Just past the dam the road ends at the Hells Canyon Visitors Center and boat launch.
Natural Feature
Because no cap rock protects them, the Painted Hills have eroded into low-slung, colorfully banded hills that were originally formed about 30 million years ago. A series of eruptions drifted into beds hundreds of feet deep, layering the brick-red, yellow, black, beige and ocher-hued ash that you now see. It's a fabulous, uncommon sight, best viewed just before sunset. The Painted Hills Unit is 9 miles north of Mitchell, off Hwy 26.
Natural Feature
Featuring the most walks and hikes of the three John Day fossil-bed units, Sheep Rock is also closest to the paleontology center. Above loom majestic, layered mountains tilted and eroding into spectacular blue-green formations that date back 28 million years. Fossils are continually being exposed here. The Sheep Rock Unit is between Dayville and Kimberly on Hwy 19.
Museum
This excellent paleontology center is 2 miles north of Hwy 26 at Sheep Rock Unit. The well-presented displays include a three-toed horse and petrified dung-beetle balls, along with many other fossils, geologic-history exhibits, and vivid murals illustrating plant and animal life during various periods. There's a lab with a large window where you can watch researchers cleaning up discoveries, and an 18-minute film summarizing the area's paleo-history.
Historic Site
Don't miss this site, located in an 1865 building that served primarily as an apothecary for the noted Chinese herbalist and doctor Ing Hay. It was also a community center, temple, general store and opium den for the Chinese population that reworked the area's mine tailings. Visits are by 45-minute guided tour only; tours start on the hour in the nearby interpretive center.
Wildlife Reserve
From the tiny town of Plush, Hart Mountain Rd crosses the Warner Lakes Basin, climbs into the spectacular, near-vertical Hart Mountain fault block (peak elevation over 8000ft) and emerges onto the prairie-like expanses of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. Roughly 3700 pronghorn antelope are protected within the refuge's 435 sq miles.
National Park
Named for the wild strawberries that thrive on its mountain slopes, the Strawberry Range is covered with ponderosa and lodgepole pines growing on glacier-chiseled volcanic peaks that are 15 million years old. A popular and rewarding 2.8-mile round-trip hike winds up a steep valley to Strawberry Lake. About 1 mile past the lake is Strawberry Falls. To reach the trailhead, follow the signs 11 miles south from Prairie City.