4/29 Friday. Drizzle. Sunny east of Cascades. 6pm meetup by J's house in Hollywood area. After a gas stop at the Dalles, 7 of us arrived at a BLM campground ($25) next to Maupin's city park. Oasis Recreation Site. Next to Deschutes River, clean vault toilet. Bright stars, despite of a few lit houses. Trains go by at the other side of the river, very loud.4/30, Saturday. Sunny. Driving back north on 197. Irrigated farm land to the west with Mt Hood on the back. Very pretty.
8:30am. White River Falls state park, just east of Tygh Valley. Very pretty, 3 levels of cascade. 
An abolished engine room with derelict hydraulic turbines, dusted with bird droppings. We hiked along the river's high bank. I was the only person who went down to the river. But the view is better above. On out drive out, saw a small group of young deer by the road. 
Drove south on 97 through Shaniko and Antelope. Both town look quite dead. Some of us bought ice cream at Shaniko, which also has a nice looking hotel, closed of course (on a Saturday!). Antelope looks more depressed. We didn't stop. Continued on 217 east.
Clarno unit of John Day Fossil Bed National Monument. Short hike up to nice rock formations, interpretive displays. Small fossil remains of leaves and tree trunk on the rock surface. The display tells you where to look. Green cultivated land on the other side of the highway. Rolling hills.
Spring Basin wilderness is a grassland, with rocky surface. A young guy with California licence plate camped right at the trailhead under a lone tree, with his dog and plenty weed. 
We didn't see anyone else during our hike, half of it cross country. Trail is faint. Expansive views of rolling hills, some balsamroot, lupine, yarrow, phlox. Quite some hedgehog cactus blooming. Some of us saw 2 deers. I didn't. We walked about 8 miles here, explored the northern half of the wilderness. No shade, some clouds. This is a perfect season for this area. I rather enjoyed this hike, even though the scenery isn't dramatic.Set up camp at Bear Hollow county park, SE of Fossil on hwy 19. Not a lot of people. Tall trees. A spigot of portable water at every camp site, 2 picnic tables, a fire ring, multiple vault toilets. $10.
At 8pm, everyone left for town to eat. I had the place to myself. Quite nice. So I can relax when using the toilet. Today, total step count 29K.
5/1, Sunday. Sunny.
After a coffee stop, we hiked in the Sheep Rock unit in John Day national monument. Two trails, or rather a loop + a tail. The Overlook Trail (the 3 mile loop) takes you up a ridge (through a piece of private property) overlooking the John Day Valley, and a bird's eye view of the Blue Basin. Half way up, there's a bench under some trees, with a label: the only shaded bench on this trail. A good stop to catch your breath and admire the view. Yellow and blue flowers which I don't know the name. Back at the bottom, turn right for the 1 mile RT of Island in Time jaunt into the heart of the Blue Basin we just saw from the previous trail. It's flat. Many metal bridges. About 3 fossils in-situ under glass cage and a detailed description plaque. There's a little bit of water under the bridges. Wherever the water pass, the whitish crumbling rock is quite green. Quite surprising as the area looks very dry and no shade. I highly recommend these 2 hikes.
After a picnic lunch at the Cant Ranch (closed today), hiked the more notable Painted Hill's unit. The short .25 mile Painted Cove loop maybe the most photographed. Up close to a red cone. 
Carroll Rim trail is 1.6 RT. I wish I brought my umbrella here. The view from above is quite nice, and a good workout for the short distance. 
Walked from the same parking lot to the Overlook trail. It's almost flat and short (0.5 miles?). Great view of the red and yellow cones. Lots of little yellow flowers. If you only hike one trail, be it this one.A short restroom stop to wash the sweat off. We drove for 2 hours. Had dinner at El Burro Loco near Zigzag, before returning to Portland. V gave me a ride home. Today, my phone recorded 24000 steps.
