Painted Hills Overlook Trail

This view is looking east from the Carroll Rim Trail toward brightly colored hills and buttes consisting of John Day Formation. Sutton Mountain is the ridge in the distance. The mountain consists of massive layers of ancient lava flows that are called the Picture Gorge Basalt (part of the Columbia River Basalt Group) (Bishop and others, 2006). These ancient volcanic rocks overlie the John Day Formation. The basalt flows formed about 16 million years ago during the early volcanic eruptions that produced massive lava flows that flooded much the Columbia River Plateau region in eastern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho (Bestland and others, 2002).