She Who Watches Hike

Overview

The Horsethief Lake section of the Columbia Hills State Park contains a unique set of cultural artifacts: a collection of pictographs and petroglyphs, some depicted on the native rimrock here and others rescued from the rising waters behind The Dalles and John Day Dams and eventually displayed on Temani Pesh-wa, the Walk of the Petroglyphs. The latter group is essentially an outdoor museum and can be viewed any time the park is open. The depictions on the park's rimrock, most notably the distinctive Tsagaglalal - or She Who Watches - pictograph/petroglyph, can only be reached by guided tour. These are conducted by knowledgable park guides from April to October on Fridays and Saturdays beginning at 10:00 a.m. Reservations need to be made by calling 509 439-9032. The tour is free, but you need a day pass or annual Discover Pass to park here. Twenty-five people are allowed on the tour. Entry is not permitted unless on a tour; there is a $100,000 fine or five years in jail for trespassing if you want to try it: there’s a security camera keeping watch on everyone's moves. Some of the 75 petroglyphs and pictographs here were vandalized in 1992 and the area has been closed to general public entry since then. In pre-settler times, this site was a big trading emporium on the Narrows of the Columbia River and holds special significance for the Chinook, Warm Springs, Yakima, Umatilla, and Nez Perce. (Because of The Dalles Dam, which was completed in 1957, the river is now four times wider than it used to be.) A number of petroglyphs and pictographs were rescued from places below the current shoreline but even more - an estimated 900 or so - were submerged. You will be conducted to five stops along the rim. Keep to the trail as both poison oak and ticks abound in the area; this is also rattlesnake country. First, there are some white and red pictographs. At Stop #2, you'll see seven more finger paintings. At #3, there's an owl-like creature with a jagged white and red streak coming out of its head, said to be a "river m

Trail Stats

Photos

250px-Pictograph_complex%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-Pictograph_complex%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-River_monster%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-River_monster%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-Herd_of_wild_sheep%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-Herd_of_wild_sheep%2C_Horsethief_Lake

250px-Horsethief_Butte

250px-Horsethief_Butte

400px-Tsagaglalal%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

400px-Tsagaglalal%2C_Tsagaglalal_Trail%2C_Horsethief_Lake

Tags