Facilities

Environmental Features

The Butte and the surrounding Columbia River channel were carved out of basalt rock by floods following the last ice age. For information on the floods, visit Sun Lakes State Park and the Dry Falls Interpretive Center.

The basalt rock resulted from a series of lava flows which emerged from cracks in the earth's crust and blanketed the entire eastern Washington/Oregon region long before the coming of ice-age floods.

When viewing the cliffs along the river, notice the stratigraphy highlighted by benches rising up the cliffs. Each of these benches, or layers, represents a different lava flow. Some lava flows were hundreds of feet thick in places.

The park contains Native American pictographs (paintings) and petroglyphs (carvings). Some of the oldest pictographs in the Northwest are found in this park. Artifacts associated with local tribes can be seen at the nearby Maryhill Museum of Art and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center.

Archeological sites and artifacts are protected by both federal and state laws, and their disturbance and/or removal is illegal and carries severe penalties.

Plant Life

Lupines Maple Moss / Lichens Oak

Poison Oak Ponderosa Pine Poplar Thistle

Wildlife Features

Birds

Chukars Crows / Ravens Doves / Pigeons Ducks Eagles Geese Gulls Hawks Herons

Hummingbirds Jays Ospreys Owls Pheasants Quail Woodpeckers Wrens

Mammals

Bobcats Coyotes Deer Elk

Foxes Marmots Raccoons Skunks

Marine Life

Bass Catfish Crappie

Perch Trout Walleye