Because no cap rock protects them from erosion, the Painted Hills have eroded into low-slung, colorfully banded hills that were originally formed about 30 million years ago. A series of eruptions drifted into beds hundreds of feet deep, layering the brick-red, yellow, black, beige and ocher-hued ash that you now see. It's a fabulous, uncommon sight.
Interpretive walks include the easy half-mile (round-trip) Leaf Hill Trail , which winds over the top of a banded hill, and the 1.5-mile (round-trip) Carroll Rim Trail , which goes to the top of a high bluff for great views.
