Steptoe Butte is a

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...

island jutting out of the silty

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

of the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of North Central Idaho, north central Idaho, southeastern Washington (part of eastern Washington), and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. ...

hills in

Whitman County, Washington Whitman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,973. The county seat is Colfax, and its largest city is Pullman. The county was formed from Stevens County in 1871. It is na ...

, in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The

butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

is preserved as Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site, a publicly owned recreation area located north of Colfax. Steptoe Butte and nearby Kamiak Butte comprise Steptoe and Kamiak Buttes

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best e ...

. This area, designated in 1965, includes land in state and county ownership.

Geology

The rock that forms the butte is over 400 million years old, in contrast with the 15–7 million year old Columbia River Basalts that underlie the rest of the Palouse. Steptoe Butte has become an archetype, as isolated protrusions of bedrock, such as summits of hills or mountains, in lava flows have come to be called "steptoes". Steptoe and Kamiak Buttes are outliers of

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

Coeur d'Alene Mountains The Coeur d'Alene Mountains are the northwesternmost portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northern Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mount ...

. *

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

: above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

, approximately above the surrounding countryside ( prominence). *Visibility: Up to . Mount Spokane is easily visible, to the north.

History

The butte was named after Colonel Edward Steptoe. A hotel built by James S. "Cashup" Davis stood atop the butte from 1888 to 1908, burning down in 1911. In 1946, Virgil McCroskey donated of land to form the park, which was later increased to over . The east,south and west portions of the butte were purchased in 2016 by two couples Kent and Elaine Bassett, and Ray and Joan Folwell. The owners planned to protect their of land from development, eventually donating it to the state. This plan came to fruition when they sold the land to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in December 2021.

Activities and amenities

A narrow paved road winds around the butte, leading to a parking area at the summit. The park offers picnicking facilities and an interpretive wayside exhibit. Popular activities include sight-seeing, paragliding, hang gliding, kite and

model airplane A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed s ...

flying, and photography.

Gallery

References

External links

Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site Map
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission {{authority control State parks of Washington (state) Parks in Whitman County, Washington Landforms of Whitman County, Washington Quartzite formations Buttes of Washington (state) 1946 establishments in Washington (state) Protected areas established in 1946 Parks established in the 1940s