I was driving in this area during some off and on rainstorms and saw this rainbow right outside of Mitchell, Oregon.

Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 28-75mm f./2.8 XR Di, Adobe Lightroom 3.

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The Strawberry Mountain Wilderness is located east of John Day, Oregon, in the Malheur National Forest. The area includes approximately 68,700 acres. The entire northern section of the mountain was burned in a large fire in 2002, which is why the trees halfway up the mountain look dead and bare. I was driving through here in the beginning of April, and stopped to take a few photos along the way.

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 17-40mm F/4L.

44.498254, -118.640429

This image was taken on a hiking trip in February of 2010, in the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. I had just gotten a new camera so on my way back from Central Oregon I stopped to hike some of the trails and take some pictures. It was a nice and clear sunny day, and not too cold - perfect for hiking that area. I took this at the first parking area and trail.

The gray layers are mudstone, siltstone, and shale formed from sediments deposited on an ancient river floodplain. The black layers are manganese nodules or manganese stains. The red layers are ancient soil profiles (laterites) that formed on floodplain deposits. Surface weathering relatively quickly breaks down these rocks into a clay-rich surface coating that easily erodes during summer flashfloods and/or winter storms.

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 17-40mm F/4L.

44.650154, -120.266669