Last updated on December 13th, 2025
Visiting Oregon’s Painted Hills? We’re sharing everything you need to know before you go!
Oregon is home to the 7 Wonders of Oregon, which showcase the diverse scenery across the state. And after visiting all of them, we can confidently say that the Painted Hills are unlike anywhere we have experienced in the state!
The Painted Hills are known for their colorful bands of gold, black, and red volcanic ash. And the colors tell the story of different climates over millions of years, with the red hues being due to warmer, wetter periods, while cooler and drier periods created a yellow hue.
Seeing this colorful wonder is well worth a stop on any Central or Eastern Oregon road trip. But before you go, we’re sharing everything to know. Including how to get there, our top hikes and viewpoints, where to camp, and more!
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How to get to the Painted Hills in Oregon
The Painted Hills are located in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. This National Monument is home to three units, Painted Hills, Sheep Rock, and Clarno, which are spread out across Central and Eastern Oregon. And the Painted Hills are the most popular of them all!
However, despite their popularity, they are pretty remote. You can find the small town of Mitchell just to the east, but the closest larger town is Bend (one of our favorites in the US!), which is 2 hours to the west.
And whether you’re coming from the west or east, you will take Highway 26 to get to the Painted Hills, before turning off onto Burnt Ranch Road/Bridge Creek Road. From here, it’s just about 12 minutes north on a paved road to the entrance of the Painted Hills. Once you turn into the Painted Hills, the road turns to a maintained gravel road and stays that way through the rest of the park.
But despite not being paved, this road is well maintained and suitable for any vehicle. And driving it is one of the best ways to see the park!
When to visit the Painted Hills in Oregon
You can technically visit the Painted Hills year round, but we’d suggest sticking to the spring and fall. The winters can bring frigid temperatures and snow, which can cover the hills and prevent you from seeing its colors. While the summers can be very hot, which feels extra brutal without any shade.
We personally visited on a weekday in late May and it was perfect. Plus, the wildflowers were gorgeous!
A+K Tip: Visiting the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend? Make sure to check out the Painted Hills Festival in Mitchell, which has a parade, live music, different running races, pie, and more!
Things to know before visiting Oregon’s Painted Hills
It is FREE to visit
Unlike other National Park Service sites, there is NO fee to visit the Painted Hills. But if you plan to visit paid sites across the country, we highly recommend getting the America the Beautiful pass!
You only need half a day
The Painted Hills is a relatively small area and you can easily drive through the park and knock out all of the hikes within half a day. So we wouldn’t suggest planning to spend multiple days here, as you may get a bit bored.
Have more time? Check out the other units of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument! We loved the Sheep Rock Unit, especially seeing the fossils and paleontology lab at the Thomas Condon Visitor Center, plus hiking the Sheep Rock Overlook Trail and the Island in Time Trail in the Blue Basin.
Dogs are allowed
One thing we loved about the Painted Hills is that your furry friends can join you! Dogs are allowed on all of the trails, but they must be on a leash. Our pup Kona had a great time hiking here!
Parking is limited
Minus the Painted Hills Overlook area, which has a decent sized parking lot, the rest of the trails have very limited parking. Sometimes with only spots for a couple vehicles! Because of this, we suggest coming early or later in the day to beat crowds. We arrived around sunrise (our favorite time for photos!) on a weekday and had every hike to ourselves. But we hear the weekend can get pretty busy!
Amenities offered
There are limited services at the Painted Hills, so make sure to come prepared. The only toilets you’ll find in the park are at the picnic area in the front, so make sure to stop here before heading out on the hikes! There is also drinking water at the picnic area, but it is only available in the warmer months.
Please leave no trace
The Painted Hills are a fragile environment, so please leave no trace while in the park! This includes:
- Staying on the trail. Don’t hurt the dirt, as the park likes to say!
- Packing out all of your trash. There are no trash facilities at the Painted Hills.
- Not collecting or digging for fossils. If you want to see fossils, head to the Thomas Condon Visitor Center.
Hiking at the Painted Hills in Oregon
The Painted Hills have five hiking trails to enjoy, which besides just admiring the views from the road, is the best way to experience the park! All of the trails are short and relatively easy, making them doable for most visitors. And you can squeeze them all into one visit!
Below are all of the trails you can choose from, listed in order from shortest to longest. We personally hiked all of these in just a few hours, but if you are short on time and want to only hike a handful, our favorites were the Painted Hills Overlook, Painted Cove Trail, and Red Scar Knoll Trail!
Painted Cove Trail
Distance (round trip): 0.3 miles
Elevation gain: 42 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map & Current Conditions
One of our favorite hikes in the Painted Hills was the Painted Cove Trail. This super short walk takes you along boardwalks that wind through a vibrant red section of hills, plus some with orange, pink, and white hues. It feels like another planet!
Compared to the other hikes in the park, you get the most up close and personal with the Painted Hills here, allowing you to see the ombre of colors and the cracked texture.
A+K Tip: Make sure to take the short side trail that goes above Painted Cove! This gives you a neat view looking down into the boardwalk area, plus of the Painted Hills Reservoir off in the distance.
Leaf Hill Trail
Distance (round trip): 0.3 miles
Elevation gain: 22 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map & Current Conditions
Want to experience some of the fossil history of the area? This trail doesn’t take you near any of the Painted Hills, but rather past an area that has fossilized remnants of plants dating back 30 million years!
It has been studied and excavated by paleontologists over the years and there is a sign that shows you the types of fossils they have found. And if you look closely, you may see some on the ground!
Our take: If you had to skip a hike, we’d skip this one and head to the fossil exhibit and paleontology lab at the Thomas Condon Visitor Center instead!
Red Scar Knoll Trail (Red Hill Trail)
Distance (round trip): 0.5 miles
Elevation gain: 39 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map & Current Conditions
The Red Scar Knoll Trail, also called the Red Hill Trail, was an unexpected surprise for us! We didn’t originally plan to hike it, but after tackling most of the trails we figured we might as well do them all. And we were glad we did!
This short walk takes you around a towering red hill with yellow streaks. And similar to the Painted Cove Trail, you can get pretty close to it, which only adds to the experience!
Painted Hills Overlook
Distance (round trip): 0.6 miles
Elevation gain: 82 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map & Current Conditions
If you can only do one hike in the Painted Hills, we recommend this one! The Painted Hills Overlook takes you above some of the most picturesque hills in the park, allowing you to get a great glimpse at its different colorful bands.
To get here, you’ll turn left off the park road and drive up to a parking area. It’s a short and easy walk up to the final viewpoint, but the views the entire time are great, so you can turn around at any point as well!
Carroll Rim Trail
Distance (round trip): 1.6 miles
Elevation gain: 374 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Map & Current Conditions
For an even higher up view than the Painted Hills Overlook, hike up the Carroll Rim Trail! This trail starts just across the road from the overlook, but you can start it from the same parking area. Which makes it really easy to do them back to back!
On this hike you’ll skirt along the edge of one of the large hills, before curving around the back of it. Back here, you can get an amazing view of the farmland off in the distance, plus the Painted Cove area. And once you get to the top, you overlook the Painted Hills Overlook area, but from much higher up.
This is definitely the toughest of the hikes, as you will be going uphill the entire time. So if you’re not up for the incline, we think the views from Painted Hills Overlook are just as good, as you’re closer to the hills from here. But don’t get us wrong, we are still very glad we did this hike too!
Camping at Oregon’s Painted Hills
While there is not a campground in the Painted Hills, there are quite a few free camping options nearby!
During our visit, we stayed at the Burnt Ranch Road Dispersed Camping, just south of the park. It can fit around 15 campers or so and even on the weekend, it was never full. There is zero cell service, but many of the spots have wide open views for Starlink.
Besides this spot, you can also camp for free just outside the park boundary at this open area. Just be mindful that shortly after this, the road turns to private property. There are also some camping options down by the John Day River, including the Priest Hole Recreation Site.
What to bring to the Painted Hills in Oregon
Water
Depending on the time of year, there is sometimes water at the picnic area. But we’d make sure to come prepared with plenty of water before visiting the Painted Hills. It’s a dry, warmer climate and you will get thirsty while exploring!
We’d also suggest bringing electrolytes, like LMNT (our favorite!). Use this link to get a free sample pack with any order!
Layers
The mornings and evenings can be a bit cooler than during the day, so make sure to bring some layers. Especially if visiting in the spring or fall!
Sun protection
Shade is nonexistent at the Painted Hills, so make sure to bring lots of sun protection, like a sun hoodie, hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses. Adam wears KALIYADI sunglasses and Kathryn wears Ray-Bans.
Garmin inReach Mini
We always bring our Garmin InReach Mini on any outdoor adventure. This gives us the ability to message family to let them know we are okay, plus has SOS capabilities, which we thankfully have never used. It’s an expensive piece of gear, but truly one of the best investments you can make for your safety.
Offline Maps
Make sure to download offline Google Maps and AllTrails Maps while you have cell service, to ensure you know where to go. Cell service can be hit or miss in this area!
Want to get 30% off an AllTrails Plus membership? Use our code aplusk30 (you must redeem this code on the website, not the app)!
We use AllTrails Plus on every single hike and it is the most helpful hiking tool out there! Some of the features we love are offline maps (so we can navigate even without cell service), wrong-turn alerts, and its 3D maps feature, so we can get a feel for trails before we hike.
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