Day 11: May 29, 66 miles

My dreams came true! This was an absolutely beautiful day. After saying "good-bye" to Henry, I rode through the John Day river gorge, nearly 25 miles downhill, to lunch at a beautiful ranger station across from Sheep Rock (photo). The John Day Fossil Beds and Picture Gorge National Monuments are like nothing I've ever seen. About 50 million years ago, this area was a tropical rainforest. Now the area is quite arid and rich with eroding fossil deposits which color the cliffsides like a painting. They say there's green in them thar hills, but I'm not sure my color-blind eyes detected it....