James T Slavin Family Conservation Area & the Homeless & their dogs

I again walked the James T Slavin Family Conservation area off of Keeney Road in Cheney yesterday. The main trail is a nice pretty much flat, well maintained trail with neat lakes,ponds and a whole lot of waterbirds. Cormorants, ducks and some other little guys were enjoying the secluded waters. People truck their horses in to ride  the trails.
The other pictures I wanted to share with you were of a homeless guy that was sitting next to a parking lot with a sign and his tiny dog Precious. I am always impressed with that as down on their luck people are they always give such wonderful care to their 4 footed children. The dogs always have food, water and when its cold they have coats and blankets. I took Precious some treats and she was very appreciative. Precious is the little Chihuahua the other 2 photos of  homeless people with their dogs were taken early this year.

Indian Painted Rocks Trail & Knothead trail

My Sister and I met up early this morning and did the Indian Painted Trail, coming back on the Knothead Trail.  The trail head is off of Rutter Parkway in Fairwood area in northwest Spokane. The Indian Painted Rocks trail runs along the river and other than a few areas where you have to climb over big rocks not terribly difficult. The Knothead Trail goes up,up,up to take you to the top where you have views of Long Lake. We saw deer and a Moose. The scenery up on top is pretty bare with pine trees but it is nice and lush and cool as you start back down. The hills around the trail down had burnt a few years ago but are already covered in underbrush. Some of the bushes were already turning so it looked very fall like on the hill on the way down. The 1st  picture was taken by Heather, my sister as we looked over long lake from a bench at the end of the trail.

Smokey Trails to you!

From the Centennial Trail, to the Columbia Plateau Trail to Iller Creek Trail people weren't letting the smoke and dust stop them from gettin their miles in. In going along the Eastern ridge of the Iller Trail loop it sstruck me how tender dry it is up on top, please be careful to not make sparks of any kind when hiking the trails. Here is a compilation of the last weeks adventure in smoke.

Dishman Hills Natural Area, Camp Caro trail head

The Dishman Hills Natural area is accessed off of Sargent Road just off of Appleway/Sprague.  There is a parking lot just off of Appleway or you can go down Sargent to Camp Caro and park there. There are alot of loop trails of varying lengths. All are very challenging with a lot of ups and downs and trails over rocks. Its pretty dry right now so not as lush as it is in the cooler weather. I don't know what the rock foundation is from, perhaps maybe a long ago house?

Dishman Conservation area, Iller Creek trailhead Spokane Valley, Wa

I had never been to this area from this direction until yesterday. I have gone in at the Sprague Trailhead and back but never in this far. I went to the left trail  right at the outhouse which takes you UP,UP,UP with steep changebacks. Went to the top and along the ridge for a bit and then straight down the side on a primitive path or deer trail. I caught up with the actual Iller Creek trail when I found the bottom and took it back to the parking area. The Dishman Hills area is huge and I will have to go back and explore the rest of the trails. This is a challenging area with a lot of ups and downs and rugged terrain. It was really dry up on top but cool and green down where the creek must run when its not so hot and dry.

James T Slavin Family Conservation Area, Keeney Road

This wonderful area is on about 13,500 S Keeney Road off 195 and Paradise Rd. In the times that I have been there I have seen horse trailers parked with people bringing their horses in to ride the trails, people walking their dogs and just enjoying a beautiful hike. It covers about 600 acres with looping trails. 2 lakes at the back of the property are full of all kinds of water fowl. Beautiful peaceful well marked trails. The loop that goes from parking lot to lake is about 4 miles round trip.