Divided into three units—Clarno, Sheep Rock and Painted Hills—the 19,000-acre  John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is one of the world’s richest repositories of plant and mammal fossils. Cached in a high desert filled with towering rock creations and multi-colored hillsides, it’s also one of the country’s most scenic destinations.

The  Clarno Unit, 18 miles southwest of Fossil on Highway 218, encapsulates a period in time when enormous rhino-like brontotheres and diminutive four-toed horses roamed lush, prehistoric jungle landscape. Some 44 million years ago, volcanic mudflows swept through the area, leaving behind a rich fossil record in cathedral-like stone rampart called the Palisades.

While digging is prohibited within the Monument, anyone willing to get their hands dirty, can unearth remains of ancient leaves along a sloping ridge behind Wheeler High School (541.763.4146) in Fossil, Oregon’s only legally accessible digging site.