Steptoe Butte: Quite a view from on top of the Palouse

This story originally appeared in the Daily News' Daytripping section May 19, 2022.

Any ranking of the best views of the Palouse has to include Steptoe Butte at or near the top of the list.

Certainly it has the most far-reaching views. At the top of the butte, one can look in any direction and see the green, yellow and brown Palouse hills stretch endlessly to the horizon.

According to Washington State Parks, the eye can see 200 miles into Idaho and Oregon. On the right day, one can also look down upon hang gliders soaring through the air.

The quartzite butte in Whitman County is some of the oldest rock in the Pacific Northwest. It was known as “the power mountain” and Pyramid Peak before being renamed to Steptoe Butte to honor Col. Edward Steptoe, who fought in the nearby 1858 Battle of Rosalia.

Nearly two decades later, pioneer James S. “Cashup” Davis bought the land and built a wagon road to the summit. He built a two-story hotel on top of the butte in 1888 complete with a glass observatory and telescope.

The hotel struggled to attract guests willing to ascend the 3,612-foot summit, but Cashup and his wife Mary Ann stayed there until they died in the 1890s. The hotel later burned to the ground in 1911 because of an apparent incident with a teenager and a cigarette.

Virgil McCroskey later purchased the butte and secured the summit as a public park. He donated 120 acres to the state of Washington in 1945 and 1946. It became a formal state park on July 4, 1946.

The National Park Service designated Steptoe Butte as a National Natural Landmark in 1965.

Kent Bassett, of Bellevue, Wash., and Ray and Joan Folwell, of Pullman, sold a 437-acre parcel on the flanks of the butte to the Washington Department of Natural Resources last year, according to a Lewiston Tribune report. This transaction preserves the largest remaining swath of native Palouse prairie.

It is currently a day-use park with camping options that’s approximately a 35-minute drive from Pullman.

It is open from 8 a.m. to dusk, although a road and park improvement project is expected to be underway at Steptoe Butte in 2022. The park will be closed for several months during this process.

Steptoe Butte

LOCATION: From Pullman, head north on U.S. 195 for 20 miles, turn right onto Scholz Road and keep right onto Hume Road for 4 miles before turning left onto Steptoe Butte State Park.

WHAT YOU’LL DO: Camping, gazing at the panoramic Palouse view, bird-watching

DIFFICULTY: 2 out of 5.

DON’T FORGET: Camera, binoculars, camping gear.