Columbia Hills, State park with basalt formations in Klickitat County, US

Columbia Hills State Park spreads along the Columbia River and features striking basalt formations, particularly at Horsethief Butte with its distinctive hexagonal columns. The park offers trails, camping areas, and boat launches distributed across its expansive grounds.

The park was established in 2003 through the merger of Horsethief Lake State Park and Dalles Mountain Ranch, a result of efforts to preserve ancient rock carvings from flooding. This project protected archaeological treasures that were threatened by a major dam project.

The park holds a collection of Native American petroglyphs and pictographs moved here from Petroglyph Canyon before The Dalles Dam raised the Columbia River. The carvings include the Tsagaglalal, or She Who Watches, figure, a human face with large eyes above a mouth, attributed in local tradition to a woman chief. Visitors can see the rock art on ranger-led tours.

The 3,637-acre park lies along the north bank of the Columbia River in Klickitat County, reached from State Route 14. Horsethief Lake, formed by The Dalles Dam, has 7,500 feet of freshwater shoreline used for boating, windsurfing and diving. Trails serve climbing, biking, horseback riding and parasailing.

The hexagonal basalt columns here were shaped roughly 10,000 years ago by spectacular Ice Age floods that completely reshaped the landscape. These same natural forces later drew climbers who discovered the stable rock walls and towers as perfect training grounds.