In this Park Facility
Seasonal gate closure
The City closes the gate into the park from May 1 through October 31 annually to prevent motor vehicle access to the loop portion of NE Rocky Butte Road adjacent to Joseph Wood Hill Park.
Rocky Butte is an extinct volcanic cinder cone butte with steep forested slopes visible from Interstates 205 and 84. Joseph Wood Hill Park is located at the top. The slopes of Rocky Butte are managed as the Rocky Butte Natural Area. The Butte is part of the Boring Lava Field, a group of over 30 cinder cones in Oregon and Washington. The site was formerly home to Rocky Butte Jail.
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.
