The grasslands above the Columbia River near Vantage offer expansive views and a peek back in time. This park is named for a ginkgo and sequoia forest – preserved by volcanic activity – that existed some 15 million years ago.
The interpretive center was closed at the time I visited, but from outside you can enjoy the view and see a few of the petrified logs moved from their original locations.
A few miles up the Old Vantage Highway is a set of trails through the original petrified forest. It was during the construction of this highway in the 1920s that the existence of the logs first became known.
Today, the park doesn’t resemble a forest at all but it does offer some expansive views of the high desert grasslands.
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