Rocky Butte - Portland, Oregon
N 45° 32.815 W 122° 33.964
10T E 533873 N 5043800
Rocky Butte and the area surrounding it were scoured by the Glacial Lake Missoula floods.
Waymark Code: WM95H2
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2010
Views: 20
From the
The Columbia River: A Photographic Journal website:
"Rocky Butte is a volcanic cone of the Boring Lava Field. Once known as "Wiberg Butte", now it is called "Rocky Butte" after the quarry on the east side. The slightly-over-600-feet-high butte is about 1.3 million years old, with two vents at the top.
"Rocky Butte stood in the path of the Missoula Floods. The rushing flood waters heading down the Willamette Valley eroded the land on the upstream side of the Butte, similar to how a stream erodes the sediment on the upstream side of a rock in its path. Today on the east side of Rocky Butte, Interstate 205 and Interstate 84 follow the broad channels carved by the floods."
From
Wikipedia:
"Formerly known as Wiberg Butte, a large quantity of rock was removed from the quarry on the east face of Rocky Butte in the 1940s for use in a new Multnomah County jail. After the jail was demolished in the 1980s, much of the stone was reused along the Historic Columbia River Highway. In the early 1900s, the Union Pacific Railroad had a spur into the east side of the Butte at a station named Quarry."
"Rocky Butte is a popular location for rock climbers in the Portland area. It hosts approximately 150 routes which vary in difficulty and type. The majority of routes will be top-roped, though there are some options for Traditional climbing and Lead Climbing. The most popular climbs are on the section known as Video Bluff."
The quarry site is no longer active. The posted coords were taken at the top of Rocky Butte in Joseph Wood Hill Park. The default photo of Rocky Butte was taken from Halsey Street where it passes over I-205N. This is a very difficult Glacial Lake Missoula Flood Feature to get a good photo of because of the highways and neighborhoods surrounding it. We found the best photo opportunity on the Halsey Street overpass but were not able to walk across it to get the photo due to safety concerns. We tried to take photos from I-205, but they came out extremely blurry and we ultimately decided it wasn't safe to park along I-205 to take a photo.