Horsethief Butte Hike

Overview

Rugged Horsethief Butte, part of Washington's expansive Columbia Hills State Park, looms above the glassy waters of Celilo Lake on this now becalmed stretch of the Columbia River. It is composed of hexagonal columns of Wanapum basalt flows, about 15 million years old, which were scoured and cleansed of most of their soil by the Bretz Floods at the end of the last Ice Age. Rock climbing groups take over the Butte on spring weekends, but the flower displays are worth the crowded battlements. In any case, the rock climbers stick to a few sheer faces, and you may wander in the gullies, search out Native American pictographs, and scramble to the Butte's windy summit. A network of trails allows for interesting explorations among the rocks, but look out for poison oak and rattlesnakes! Those with young children or who have strong sensitivity to poison oak should stick to the central defile and plateau of the Butte itself rather than attempt the route around the base. Avoid the Butte on hot summer days, when the rock reflects heat and makes an oven out of the narrow ravines. A trail leads from the new trailhead across a grassy expanse. Keep right at a junction, and look for blooming death-camas in the spring as well as views over Horsethief Lake and the hexagonal columns of the Wanapum flows. Mount Hood stands starkly to the west. Part of The Dalles is also visible. On the west side of the butte, the trail splits. To circle around the base of Horsethief Butte (Poison oak alert!), go right to continue towards the river. You can smell the pungent desert-parsley here; also, listen for the cascading notes of canyon wrens coming tumbling from the ramparts. Swallows dart about overhead, and vultures soar the thermals. The rocky cliffs above the trail are home to multicolored splashes of lichen. There are lookout points to the right, and the trail drops through a poison oak-choked notch to a view over a reed-lined pond and the railroad. Continue a scrambling traverse before descending above an incised gulch with a basalt p

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