Plainly visible from the Zuni Pueblo, the mesa is located in McKinley County, New Mexico,[3] and has an elevation of 7,274 feet (2,217 m).

[4] In 1540, Zuni people from the village of Hawikuu fled to the Dowa Yalanne mesa top to escape the attackers of the Coronado expedition.

[5] On November 11, 1692, Don Diego de Vargas climbed to the top of Dowa Yalanne and baptized over 290 people.

Although it is unlikely that the contact period villages were totally abandoned, apparently every Zuni family maintained a residence on top of Dowa Yalanne that could be used for refuge when the Spaniards returned.

[8] Dowa Yalanne is "mythologically associated with the 'House of the Gods and the making of rain, lightning, and thunder,' and from this came its alternate name, 'Thunder Mountain.'

The mesa's white Zuni Sandstone is the source of flat baking stones for "hewe", a paper-thin cornbread prepared for special occasions.