Indian Painted Rocks is a tiny state park (approximately 2,000 sq ft (200 m2)) right outside Yakima, Washington at the intersection of Powerhouse and Ackely Roads. The Indian rock paintings, also known as pictographs are on a cliff of basaltic rocks parallel to the current Powerhouse road which was once an Indian trail and later a main pioneer road that connected the Ahtanum valley to the Wenas mountains.
The paintings were originally thought to be only a few hundred years old but it is likely they are much older than that - possibly over 1000 years old. The pictographs were painted on the cliff when a prehistoric lake submerged the bottom. The natives painted the cliff from canoes using organic materials.[1]
The rock paintings are stylized polychromatic paintings using white, red and black colors.
The state park was acquired from the Yakima Valley Canal Company in 1950.
In early 2007, the state parks department closed the Indian Painted Rocks park because of graffiti. There are plans to restructure the park in order to protect the painted rocks.