Bowl and Pitcher is a sweet spot, no matter what your business is there. There are hiking trails (that exclude bikes), combo trails (that don't exclude bikers, a little to hiker's dismay), climbing rocks, and just plain great scenery for if you only want to sit on a rock and play a guitar. Or eat a sandwich. Or smoke a cigarette near the trail as non-smoking families ride by. I happened to be in Spokane to visit Mavis at her work, and decided to take the kids on a little adventure while we were there. This ride (and others in this area) are described in the book Mountain Biking Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.
1:30PM
Left from the Riverside State Park parking lot. Make sure you have a dumb Discovery Pass.
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| Very cool suspension bridge. There are some stairs you have to carry your bike up, which kinda sucked |
1:45 PM
We'd barely started, and the kids already found rocks to climb. Which was perfect. This was a fun little knob that was safe enough for someone who takes their kids climbing regularly, sketchy to people walking by who didn't know that.
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| Going for the biking/climbing combo deal |
Reached the first Centennial Trail junction, which has one of those forest service-style outhouses. From here, you could ride north or south along the paved trail. We opted to cross and follow a dirt single track through a burned area.
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| Representative of the lower section. We came across four deer, which I'm sure is common |
2:30 PM
While riding through the burned area, several other bikers came screaming down from trails above. You could spend a lot of time exploring just this area.
2:45 PM
Curved around and ended up running into the paved Centennial Trail again. You could just double back on the single track, but The Goo was whining a bit (as was anticipated) so we rode back on the pavement.
3:00 PM
Back at the first Centennial Trail junction, and decided to stop and enjoy some view.
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| Kinda makes you forget that you're just slightly downriver from busy downtown Spokane and a gigantic sewage treatment plant... |
Back at the parking lot. Keep in mind that we rode fairly slow and stopped a lot.
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| Distance: 1.82 miles one-way Elevation Gain: Negligible |
