2 photographs

Clarno State Recreation Site

A weathered steel truss bridge spans the John Day River along the Shaniko-Fossil Highway, marking the boundary between Wheeler and Wasco counties in Oregon's high desert. Golden afternoon light bathes the rolling, sage-dotted hills while wispy cirrus clouds stretch across an expansive blue sky. The perspective from the center of the asphalt road, with its worn yellow dividing lines, draws the eye through the russet bridge structure toward distant homesteads nestled in the fold of ancient hills. — ISO 100 · 40mm · f/13 · 1/100

Crossing Into Wasco County, Oregon High Desert

The John Day River bridge on Oregon's Shaniko-Fossil Highway creates a gateway between counties in the state's dramatic high desert landscape.

A pristine white schoolhouse with azure trim stands in stark isolation against the sun-scorched hills of Wheeler County, Oregon. The building's bell tower pierces the cerulean sky while golden grasslands cascade down from the ancient volcanic formations of the Clarno unit. Irrigation sprinklers dot the emerald pasture in the foreground, creating a striking contrast between cultivated green and the wild amber slopes that roll endlessly toward the horizon. — ISO 100 · 250mm · f/11 · 1/100

Solitary Schoolhouse Beneath Oregon's Golden Hills

A historic one-room schoolhouse sits dwarfed by the dramatic golden hills near Fossil, Oregon, in the John Day Fossil Beds region.