Dishman Hills

After a late post-shift breakfast at Franks Diner and lying on the couch watching the Today Show for an hour, I decided to take a little stroll in one of my favorite local spots, Dishman Hills Natural Area. It is so weird. This place is an oasis in the middle of metro Spokane. At over 500 acres, with some attached land that goes up to Tower Mountain and Iller Creek (a hike I will later report on), you can take a ten minute walk or spend an entire afternoon criss-crossing the numerous trails. I love this place for several reasons. 1) it is really close to my house; 2) even though the parking lot might be full, I rarely run into people on the trails, especially some of the lesser traveled ones; 3) during my summer of hell two years ago, it was a place that I went to every single day. The only relief I could find from my grief was to just walk and walk and walk, and Walter was with me every step of the way. I sometimes think I have walked every square inch of the place, but every now and then I will stumble upon a spot I have never been before. It is because of this that Dishman Hills is a pretty special place to me now.

The topography is pretty amazing. There are cliffs, deep ravines, springs, a totally awesome rock shelter, cool dark glades filled with ferns and birch trees, ponds, weird rock formations, and lots of wildlife. I have seen deer, owls, hawks, heron, and even some elk poo. Cougar have evidently been spotted in the area as well. The smell of pine trees is so refreshing and it only takes five minutes to get away from the sound of Sprague and Appleway and the loud speakers of the car lots. The easiest trailhead to find is right off Appleway on Sargent, a couple blocks west of the Dishman-Mica Road. Camp Caro is located there (I am still not sure what it is exactly) and there are bathrooms, play equipment, and lots of picnic tables in a big grassy area. This link will take you to a pdf map and brochure of the area with some of the trails noted on it. http://www.dnr.wa.gov/dataandmaps/maps/pdf/dish_both.pdf There are far more trails than those plotted on the map and one of the most enjoyable things for me is to go there with no plan in mind and just start wandering around. It is easy to get a little disoriented so it is best to keep an eye on where you are going. Having a compass is a good idea because all you need to do, should you get lost, is head any direction other than south and you will hit a major city street.

Today Walter and I took a swing by the East/West ponds and right in the middle of the West pond was a heron standing on a log (the fuzzy looking thing in the middle of the picture). In the early morning, the ponds are easy to find by the sound of the frogs that sing an almost deafening chorus. By August the ponds are usually completely dry but because of our wet spring and early summer, they will probably have water in them for at least another month, if not more.

There are several spots that have great views of the city. The one in the picture is just above Camp Caro. It looks down on Appleway and Mt. Spokane can be seen in the distance. Another great one is on top of Eagle Peak. From there you can see all of Spokane and that is one of the spots Walter and I usually hit every time we go there. Dishman Hills is really a great place to escape to when you just need to get out and have very limited time.