June 5, 2025 • 28 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Jennie Flaming (00:00):
Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking
(00:07):
podcast. I'm your host. JennieThwing Flaming, and I'm your co
host, Craig Romano, Craig and Iare happy to have you here. We
provide practical and timely,seasonal hiking advice for
hikers, trail runners andpotential hikers and trail
runners of all skill and abilitylevels that is helpful,
accurate, fun and inclusive.
Well, hello everybody. Today, wehave a special guest from
(00:32):
Spokane, Emily Mandagie, and sheis also a blogger, and she, she
and her husband, birdie, havethis beautiful website that's
all about outdoor adventures andhiking, kind of in the greater
Pacific Northwest Area. And sowe are going to be talking about
(00:54):
hikes in the Spokane area today.
Emily, welcome to the WashingtonState hiking podcast. Thanks for
being here.
Emily (01:05):
Hi. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be
here. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (01:09):
so Emily, can you start by kind of introducing
yourself to everybody I knowthat you are a born and raised
resident of Spokane. Tell us alittle bit about your your
journey to hiking and to thework you do. Totally.
Emily (01:27):
So, yeah, like you said, I was born and raised in
Spokane, and then as I graduatedhigh school, I wanted to kind of
go off and do my own thing, butnot too far. So I went to the
University of Washington. That'swhere I met my husband, and we
decided, you know, the activitywe liked to do together was go
hiking. And what better placeto, you know, dip your toe into
(01:51):
the hiking world in aroundSeattle, right? So that's where
we kind of started. And I think,like, 22 was our first hike
we've ever done together.
Special, yeah, it is a reallygood one. And then we started
realizing, like, hey, we reallylike to do this together. And
birdie started taking picturesand sharing them on Instagram.
And then just the snowball gotbigger and bigger and started
(02:12):
rolling into, oh, people areinterested in these pictures.
Oh, they want to know what thehike is. So we started the blog
with, you know, pairing thosepictures with words and making,
you know, trails, you know,informational and how to take
that picture on that trail. Andthen it got bigger and bigger
from there. And then we startedthe bandage.com which is our
(02:34):
Pacific Northwest blog. Andthen, yeah, from there, we just
kind of took off with ourbusiness. It was really fun.
And, yeah, we had a really greattime starting it. We moved back
to Seattle, I mean, Spokane,sorry. We moved back again in
2018 when we were ready topurchase a house, you know, as
(02:55):
we were deciding it was justmore cost effective to purchase
a house in Spokane. It's alittle bit cheaper than Seattle,
and I was from there. My familywas there too, so it was a
really good place for us to putdown some roots. So we've been
in Spokane since 2018 and havereally loved being here.
Jennie Flaming (03:19):
Love it. That's awesome. So Emily, for folks who
are not familiar with theSpokane area, can you talk a
little bit about what makes itsuch a great place for hiking in
in Washington, and what's kindof unique about it? Yeah,
Emily (03:38):
if you have never been to Spokane or Eastern Washington.
It is vastly different from thewestern side. The Cascades kind
of cut it right in the middle.
And on the western side, youhave, you know, these really
lush rainforest, rainy greenhikes. And on the eastern side,
it's a little bit drier. In thecenter of Washington, it's kind
(04:01):
of this really interestinggeographical, you know, like
Missoula flood plains area. Andthen on the very eastern side of
Washington, where I live inSpokane, it's kind of the
foothills ish of the Rockies,and so you're getting a little
bit more elevation. There's alittle bit more forest area, but
(04:24):
it's definitely not the forestthat you experience on the
Olympic Peninsula, for example.
You've got, you know, pine treesand, like, wildflowers, rolling
hills, not like Rocky, RockyMountains. You don't have, like,
snow capped jagged peaks, butyou do have snow on top of the
(04:47):
mountains here. I hope thatexplains it. But, yeah, it's,
it's a little bit different fromthe east or the western side,
but it's, it's got its ownbeauty. Definitely.
Jennie Flaming (04:59):
I totally. Agree with that. Emily, okay, so let's
talk about some of your favoritehikes in the Spokane area, and
maybe just tell us a little bitabout where they are, that some
of the things around theirdifficulty, like it's steep,
long, you know, that kind ofstuff. Maybe great times of year
(05:20):
to do them. Let's, let's hear alittle bit
Emily (05:22):
about that. Yeah, I would say the the closest hikes around
Spokane are on the shorter side,on the easier side, and there's
also a lot of mixed use trailsgoing on, for example, in
Riverside State Park, which ison the northwest corner of
(05:44):
Spokane. You have biking trails,you have hiking trails, walking
trails, and they're all kind oflike intermingled. So you will
see a lot of people sharing thetrail on the summertime and
just, you know, recreating howthey please. What I really like
about Riverside State Parkspecifically is all of the
(06:07):
little outlets to the river, so,as the name suggests, it's on
the riverside. So there's notreally like a destination or an
end point or like the highestpart of the trail. It kind of
like meanders along theriverside, and then ever so
often there's like a spur to,like a little private beach or
(06:27):
something. And so all of thehikes that I am envisioning
around Spokane aren't reallylike point A to point B. It's
kind of like a long trail, andthen all of these other like
little branches that you cankind of veer off of and just
have a picnic, or, you know, popup a little umbrella and take a
(06:50):
seat and enjoy the scenery. Soit's very casual and very
recreational. There's not reallylike any destination,
specifically, is in RiversideState Park. Specifically, Yep,
Jennie Flaming (07:07):
yeah, love that.
That is a really beautifulplace. What would you say, Emily
is the best time of year to goto Riverside State Park?
Emily (07:16):
Oh gosh, you know, probably the spring or early
summer. I say that because thereare lots of wildflowers, and I
just looked up the name of thisbefore this call, but it's
called Balsam root. See them alot in the Columbia River Gorge,
but you see them a ton here ineastern Washington, yep. And
(07:37):
those are those, like patches oflittle yellow flowers that kind
of look like maybe daisies, but,yeah, they're just they're
beautiful everywhere. And so ifyou and it's not too hot in late
spring, early summer, so if yougo in the morning, it's just
that really nice fresh air, andyou've got almost guaranteed
(08:00):
sunshine over here in that timeof year, so it's just like a
really pleasant time to beoutside.
Jennie Flaming (08:06):
Yeah, totally agree. Love that one. Okay. What
else? Emily,
Emily (08:12):
well, nearby too, there's mount Spokane State Park, which
is maybe a 45 minute drivedepending on where you live, in
Spokane, and I really like thatplace because there's a lot of
interest. That's a little bitmore kind of I would call, like
traditional hiking, where youhave a destination. There's one
(08:34):
trail specifically called QuartzMountain Lookout, where you park
your car at a warming hut. Soyou use it in the winter time
for cross country skiing, but inthe summertime, you can kind of
go through the network of thosecross country trails, and all of
(08:56):
the sides of the trails are likefilled with huckleberries. And
so you take, like, a little bagor a bucket or something on your
way, and you just, like, pickand eat huckleberries as you go
up to the top. And then onceyou've reached the end, there's
Quartz Mountain Lookout, andit's one of the few lookouts in
Washington state where you couldactually rent it and stay
(09:18):
overnight. Cool. Yeah, yeah, westayed overnight. Oh gosh, a
couple years ago, and it wasjust so fun, because you got to
see the city light up at, youknow, on the in the distance,
because you're like, not too faraway from Spokane, you can see
lights, you know, at the bottomof the mountain. So it was just
(09:41):
beautiful.
Jennie Flaming (09:42):
That's awesome.
You know? That just made methink of Emily, when you lived
in Seattle, did you ever go toBlake island in the Salish Sea?
Emily (09:54):
It's like, I know of it, but I don't think I've, like,
been there, been there. Yeah,it's,
Jennie Flaming (09:59):
it's. Hard to get to you, because there's not
a regular boat that goes thereanymore. There used to be, but
if you camp there, you're kindof camping on this pretty
isolated island. But then youlike, look across the water and
see downtown Seattle.
Unknown (10:17):
Oh my gosh. It
Jennie Flaming (10:19):
just made me think of that when you were
talking about about MountSpokane, kind of the same idea,
like, yeah, this, like,beautiful area, and it's quite
close to a major city, yeah,
Emily (10:32):
kind of like, perched in the middle of, you know, the
woods, and then all of a suddenyou're like, Oh yeah, there's
civilization. Yeah.
Jennie Flaming (10:39):
Love it. Okay, yeah, um, what else Emily,
Emily (10:45):
um, one place that I've really liked to go for, like a
little quick hike, is a placecalled Waikiki springs. It's
nearby Whitworth University,kind of north Spokane. And it
kind of, I forgive me if this isthe wrong term, but a lollipop
(11:05):
loop, is that what it's called,where you have the single, you
know, trail, yeah, make a bigcircle, and then you like,
return on the same trail.
Jennie Flaming (11:14):
I call that a lollipop loop. Okay,
Unknown (11:17):
yeah, I think so
Jennie Flaming (11:18):
that's at least one of two of us that do that?
Yeah,
Emily (11:21):
great, yes, yeah, it's great because it is actually one
of the entry points. So it's ait's a river. You cross a river,
when you go there, it's thelittle Spokane River, and it's
an entry point to actually floatthe little Spokane River. So an
option is to bring, like, apaddle board or a kayak or
(11:42):
something, and then pop it inthe water, and then you can
float down the river and pop outsomewhere else. Granted, sounds,
you can't hike between the two.
Maybe you can hike between thetwo, but I haven't really heard
of people doing that. But yeah,that is an option for, like, a
pop in, you know, boatsummertime activity, but yeah,
(12:03):
like I said, in Spokane, there'sa lot of mix use on these
trails, so you'll see, you know,dogs and children and boats and
bikes. So it's really fun to beable to, just like, be a part of
the community and see all ofthose people enjoying the trail
in so many different ways, yeah,which I think is really special,
but yeah, Waikiki Springs is oneof those where it's short enough
(12:26):
to take a small child and theywill, like, have fun. It's
interesting. You go up a littlehill, you come down a little
hill, you cross a river. There'scattails everywhere. Yeah,
there's a lot to see. So thatone's really fun too. Oh,
Jennie Flaming (12:43):
love it. Oh, these are so great. I am really
excited about my next trip toSpokane
Unknown (12:49):
now, yeah, go hiking together. I know that
Jennie Flaming (12:53):
would be really fun. I used to spend a lot of
time in Spokane because my auntand uncle lived there for a long
time, all the way that I wasthrough college, and you know,
up until about the time that youmoved there, they moved to
Tacoma to be closer to mycousins, so I haven't spent as
(13:13):
much time there in the last sixor seven years as I did for like
15 years before that. So, yeah,this is all okay. So Emily,
we've, so far we've talked aboutthree awesome hikes, super close
to Spokane. What else do youhave for us?
Emily (13:31):
So this is not necessarily a hike, but it's
called the Centennial Trail, andit's a 37 mile paved route that
goes from nine mile fallsWashington, all the way through
Spokane, through downtown, andgoes all the way to the Idaho
border. And I really like itbecause it goes through to town,
(13:55):
and it goes through one of myfavorite neighborhoods, Kendall
yards, and you can go getcoffee. You can see the
waterfalls downtown. You walkright back by them. There's a
donut shop on it, and so it'syour traditional hiking route.
But I that's one of my favoritethings to do. When people come
(14:15):
visit us in Spokane, we'll likewear strollers and we'll go grab
a coffee and get some donuts andjust walk, walk all the way
through downtown. And granted,we don't go all the 37 miles to
Idaho, but you can. And thenthere's so many different parts
of that trail that go through,like a quiet Riverside, and it's
(14:37):
just really special. And, like,again, very mixed use. I would
say it would be very comparableto the Green Lake Trail. Yep,
that was around Green Lake. Butit's just not a circle, it's a
line. So you see tons ofdifferent people, running,
walking with strollers, playingwith kids, biking,
rollerblading. So that is you.
That's a fun thing to do. That'snot quite hiking, but you know,
(15:02):
you're walking, you're gay,yeah, so and
Jennie Flaming (15:06):
a trail with a donut shop is like, sounds
amazing.
Emily (15:11):
Yes, yes, yep, it's one of my like, go to stops when
people come to visit us. I waslike, Okay, we're gonna kind of
woo you on Spokane. Let's go tothe Centennial Trail. Get some
gas, coffee. Yeah, yeah. Mm,hmm, perfect.
Jennie Flaming (15:27):
I actually know somebody who biked the whole
thing, and they said it wasreally awesome. Yeah,
Emily (15:33):
my brother did that recently too, on his bike. I
have yet to do it, but one ofthe big goals for birdie and I
in the next couple years is toget and invest in some really
good bikes. Ooh,
Jennie Flaming (15:44):
I'm excited about that. Yeah, perfect. Okay,
what else do you have for us?
Emily,
Emily (15:51):
there's one other one that I have in like, the very
close Spokane area, and that iscalled the painted rocks. It's
very close to our house, whichis fun because I live in
Northwest Spokane, and thistrail is located in northwest
Spokane, again, mixed use,because you go there and it's
one of the exit points forfloating the little Spokane
(16:14):
River. But one reason I reallylike it is I've actually never
made it to the end of thistrail, because there's just so
much to do in the middle. Oh, wego, and there's like, all of
these offshoot like river spots,and so all when I was growing
(16:34):
up, I don't remember making itto the end, because we always
ended up in a river spot, eatingour picnic lunch, throwing rocks
in the river, playing in theriver, and then going home. So
that's one of the first oneswe're going to take our son at
this year. He is walking now, sowe're going to let him just
decide how far he wants to go,yeah, and stop at a little river
(16:58):
spot, let him explore how hewants to and then turn around
and go back to the car. So Ireally like Spokane trails in
that way, especially the onesclose to the city, because
there's not really a destinationto get to, yep, it's just like
for the enjoyment, and there'sjust so much to do in all of the
(17:21):
parts of the trail.
Jennie Flaming (17:22):
Yeah, love it.
Oh, that sounds perfect for,like, different ages of kids and
adults and that kind of thingtoo. Love
Emily (17:31):
it for sure. You see a ton of families out in the
summertime just, just meanderingthe trail. There's no really
destination. It's just, I loveseeing families just let their
kids enjoy all parts of thetrail. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (17:46):
that's so fun.
Okay, what else?
Emily (17:51):
Well, one I have really loved this was before we had our
baby boy. It's actually Idaho,but it's one of the popular
backpacking trails that you cango to. It's in the Selkirk
mountains, and it's calledbeehive lake. I wish I had the
distance for you, but it's kindof around maybe four miles
(18:15):
total, okay, but it's incrediblysteep, which I mean, you get
there, and it's, like, veryrewarding, because, you know,
you get there, and the lake isstunning, but I would say it's
more, how do I say this beehiveLake is kind of like you climb
(18:36):
over the mountain and then youpop in, and I would say it's a
Traditional kind of what youwould expect a one day
backpacking trip to look like,if you can Cascade Mountains,
for example, yep, but it's just,you know, in northern Idaho, and
I would say it's right outsideof standpoint. So this okay,
you're committing to maybe anhour and a half drive to the
(18:58):
trail head from Spokane. Andit's really beautiful. It's
drier than the Cascade Mountainswhen you're walking through I
would say, yeah, it's similar,but you're just not getting much
rain, yep. And that one isreally fun and a very easy day,
(19:23):
like one day hike, I would sayit's it's not easy getting there
because it's pretty steep. Butas far as, like the time frame
that you need to do it in, it'seasy to do it in one night,
right?
Jennie Flaming (19:38):
So it makes for a good even though it's a tough
trail, it makes for a good onenight backpacking trip because
it's not super far and it'shard, but it's not extremely
long, so it's doable, even ifyou go really slow.
Emily (19:55):
That is correct, yeah.
And one of the my favorite partsof the trip is. Is going down
and then going back intoSandpoint. There's a ton of
really good like, burritoplaces, coffee places,
standpoints, kind of a moredestination Lake town. It's on
the ponderay lake, so there'sjust a lot of good food. So it's
(20:16):
always the best when you have,like, a really hard hike, and
then you're rewarded with, like,a really delicious meal
afterwards, and not know theperfect place to do it. Love it.
Jennie Flaming (20:28):
Great tip.
Wonderful. Yeah. Okay, so let'ssee. Do you have one or two more
for us? Emily, am I keepingtrack? Okay,
Emily (20:37):
I think so. Yeah, I have one more. Okay, perfect. It's
kind of a hiking trail, but kindof not, and it's actually
Montana, ooh. And I say it'sMontana because, well, it is,
and it's close and accessible toSpokane, which is why I like it.
Yeah, it's called Garnet ghosttown. Okay, let's actually, I'm
(21:01):
gonna look it up really fast.
Yep, it's called Garnet ghosttown, and you can hike into it,
or you can park close, dependingon, like, there is accessibility
parking if you want to go, like,straight into the ghost town.
Gotcha. And there is a littlekind of trail that you can
follow that goes through all ofthe old, I think it was a mining
town, and there's the buildingsare still standing. It's
(21:25):
preserved, yeah, and somaintained. It's not like,
updated or anything, but theykeep the buildings, like,
intact, so they're not like,falling down and being like a
danger to people, right? It isreally cool. And you can hike
all the way up to, like a schoolhouse. That's way far in the
woods. There's a lot of like,little hidden gems that you can
(21:45):
explore. And so it's not quitelike a traditional hike, like
you park your car, you go to alake and you come back, yeah,
but it's interesting, becausethere's so much history involved
in this place. I think it waslike a gold miner town, okay?
And I'm not sure why it stoppedbeing a town and then everybody
(22:05):
moved out, but, yeah, it'sintact, and it's really fun to
go to. There's this like, littlepamphlet that you get with all
the information of, like, whatthis house is and what the use
was, and it's reallyinteresting. And, yeah, get your
hiking shoes on, because there'sa lot to see, and it is a big
space. Oh, that's really cool.
(22:28):
Yeah, it's really fun. And youcan go in most of the buildings
too. Oh,
Jennie Flaming (22:32):
that sounds like a really fun adventure. So you
said it's in Montana. Um, like,where is it like, close to I 90,
or do you take a different roadto get there? Kind of, how do
you get there?
Emily (22:47):
Let me look it up. I would say it's close to
Missoula. It's outside ofMissoula, a little Okay, so I
know we're talking about hikesin eastern Washington. So this
one's a little bit of a stretch.
You
Jennie Flaming (22:59):
know what? Emily you I have never heard of this,
and I just love it. And so Ithink you are telling us your
favorites as a local, and I loveit, and it's totally cool if
it's in Montana or Idaho,
Emily (23:13):
okay, yeah, it's, I would say it's probably like in the
three to three and a half hourdrive from Spokane. So it's
yeah, what, what me and myfamily did was we went and we
camped nearby, yep, and then theday trip was to go to Garnet
ghost town and then come down toour campsite. But it was one of
those things where, if youwanted to take a weekend trip
(23:36):
from Spokane, that is 1,000%Yep, a doable, easy trip,
because there's a lot ofcamping, like, campgrounds
nearby, yeah? So you couldtotally do that in a weekend,
which is, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (23:49):
definitely. But so it's close to Missoula,
Emily (23:53):
yeah, it's, it's just outside of Missoula, more on,
like, the eastern side, yep. Sokind of by Sealy, like, if
you've ever heard of that place,that's a great place to go
camping. Nice. But, yeah, it'sreally fun. And hi, you know, I
know it's a little bit fartherfrom Spokane. I do know that
there's some ghost towns closeto Spokane that I would like to
check out personally, but I willgone there.
Jennie Flaming (24:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. My husband, Jay
is from Montana and closer toYellowstone. His parents worked
in the park, and he and his bestfriend in high school spent lots
of time exploring ghost towns,kind of in that part of Montana.
But I hadn't heard of this one.
And you know, Missoula waspretty far for the probably,
(24:38):
well, probably further fromMissoula than Spokane is
actually, yeah, oh, that's socool. And so one question I had
about beehive Lake, I wanted togo back to that for a second,
which was in Idaho. So youtalked about it being a
backpacking trip, but I assumeit would be a. A pretty good day
(24:58):
hike as well. I mean, it wouldbe longer, of course, because
you'd be going out there andback in one day. Have you done
it as a day hike? Would yourecommend that? Or do you feel
like this is really a place togo for backpacking?
Emily (25:13):
I would say you could totally do it as a day hike. It
would take all day, because, youknow, you have to factor in if
you are from Spokane, or you'relike, home base, you know, for
hiking in Spokane, you'redriving there all day, yeah,
it's probably all day, and thenyou're hiking in the hot sun,
and then you're coming back anhour and a half, yeah, I would
(25:35):
say, if you are, like, kind ofbase camping in Coeur d'Alene or
Sandpoint. That's a little bitmore fun because it won't take
you all day. But the reason thatwe chose to do it with a
backpacking trip is, one,because of the drive, and two,
it was just a really hot, likeend of July time, and jumping in
(25:56):
the lake was so refreshing. Andso to be able to, like, you
know, set up camp, sit down,have a meal, jump in the lake
during the day. It was justreally fun to have that like
easy time, to just take it slow.
Yeah, that was when we reallygot to enjoy it. And then we got
to watch the sunrise. It was sobeautiful. So you totally could
(26:16):
do it as a day hike. But Ipersonally would recommend it as
an overnight because of all ofthe elements that you miss out
on during a day hike, like themorning sunrise, jumping in the
lake, a meal, taking a nap,
Jennie Flaming (26:35):
Yeah, I bet the stars must be amazing there too.
Oh yeah,
Emily (26:39):
oh yeah. And what is special about Spokane hiking or
overnight backpacking aroundhere is that the the sky is
really clear, like all the time.
So you do get really good, goodstar reviews at night over here
in eastern Washington.
Jennie Flaming (26:58):
Amazing. Love.
It Wonderful. Well, Emily, thankyou so much for sharing these
wonderful Spokane area plusIdaho plus Montana hikes. Um
with us. Anything else you wantto say about any of these hikes
or Spokane before we before wewrap up? No. First
Emily (27:19):
of all, thanks for letting me, like divert into
Idaho and Montana. I know thisis a Washington podcast, so I
appreciate it.
Jennie Flaming (27:26):
We have, we have episodes about our neighbors as
well, so it's perfect.
Emily (27:30):
Love, awesome. No, it's been really fun to chat with
you, and I hope that everybodygets to experience Spokane at
some point in their life. I justthink it's a really beautiful
place to just take hiking alittle bit more slow and
recreate among a lot ofdifferent people who are
choosing to just enjoy the trailin a different way. So I just
(27:53):
think that that is a beautifulpart of Spokane, and yeah, I
hope everybody gets to come hereand experience it for
Jennie Flaming (27:59):
themselves. I hope so too. Thank you so much.
Emily,
Unknown (28:03):
yeah, thank you so much.
Jennie Flaming (28:06):
If you're enjoying the podcast, we would
love to have you leave us arating or review wherever you're
listening that will really helpother people find us. And don't
forget, there's a link toCraig's books and my email list
in the show notes, if you'd liketo connect with us and support
us further, and you can alwaysleave us a tip in the show
(28:28):
notes. You.
Jennie, welcome to the Washington State hiking
(00:07):
podcast. I'm your host. JennieThwing Flaming, and I'm your co
host, Craig Romano, Craig and Iare happy to have you here. We
provide practical and timely,seasonal hiking advice for
hikers, trail runners andpotential hikers and trail
runners of all skill and abilitylevels that is helpful,
accurate, fun and inclusive.
Well, hello everybody. Today, wehave a special guest from
(00:32):
Spokane, Emily Mandagie, and sheis also a blogger, and she, she
and her husband, birdie, havethis beautiful website that's
all about outdoor adventures andhiking, kind of in the greater
Pacific Northwest Area. And sowe are going to be talking about
(00:54):
hikes in the Spokane area today.
Emily, welcome to the WashingtonState hiking podcast. Thanks for
being here.
Emily (01:05):
Hi. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be
here. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (01:09):
so Emily, can you start by kind of introducing
yourself to everybody I knowthat you are a born and raised
resident of Spokane. Tell us alittle bit about your your
journey to hiking and to thework you do. Totally.
Emily (01:27):
So, yeah, like you said, I was born and raised in
Spokane, and then as I graduatedhigh school, I wanted to kind of
go off and do my own thing, butnot too far. So I went to the
University of Washington. That'swhere I met my husband, and we
decided, you know, the activitywe liked to do together was go
hiking. And what better placeto, you know, dip your toe into
(01:51):
the hiking world in aroundSeattle, right? So that's where
we kind of started. And I think,like, 22 was our first hike
we've ever done together.
Special, yeah, it is a reallygood one. And then we started
realizing, like, hey, we reallylike to do this together. And
birdie started taking picturesand sharing them on Instagram.
And then just the snowball gotbigger and bigger and started
(02:12):
rolling into, oh, people areinterested in these pictures.
Oh, they want to know what thehike is. So we started the blog
with, you know, pairing thosepictures with words and making,
you know, trails, you know,informational and how to take
that picture on that trail. Andthen it got bigger and bigger
from there. And then we startedthe bandage.com which is our
(02:34):
Pacific Northwest blog. Andthen, yeah, from there, we just
kind of took off with ourbusiness. It was really fun.
And, yeah, we had a really greattime starting it. We moved back
to Seattle, I mean, Spokane,sorry. We moved back again in
2018 when we were ready topurchase a house, you know, as
(02:55):
we were deciding it was justmore cost effective to purchase
a house in Spokane. It's alittle bit cheaper than Seattle,
and I was from there. My familywas there too, so it was a
really good place for us to putdown some roots. So we've been
in Spokane since 2018 and havereally loved being here.
Jennie Flaming (03:19):
Love it. That's awesome. So Emily, for folks who
are not familiar with theSpokane area, can you talk a
little bit about what makes itsuch a great place for hiking in
in Washington, and what's kindof unique about it? Yeah,
Emily (03:38):
if you have never been to Spokane or Eastern Washington.
It is vastly different from thewestern side. The Cascades kind
of cut it right in the middle.
And on the western side, youhave, you know, these really
lush rainforest, rainy greenhikes. And on the eastern side,
it's a little bit drier. In thecenter of Washington, it's kind
(04:01):
of this really interestinggeographical, you know, like
Missoula flood plains area. Andthen on the very eastern side of
Washington, where I live inSpokane, it's kind of the
foothills ish of the Rockies,and so you're getting a little
bit more elevation. There's alittle bit more forest area, but
(04:24):
it's definitely not the forestthat you experience on the
Olympic Peninsula, for example.
You've got, you know, pine treesand, like, wildflowers, rolling
hills, not like Rocky, RockyMountains. You don't have, like,
snow capped jagged peaks, butyou do have snow on top of the
(04:47):
mountains here. I hope thatexplains it. But, yeah, it's,
it's a little bit different fromthe east or the western side,
but it's, it's got its ownbeauty. Definitely.
Jennie Flaming (04:59):
I totally. Agree with that. Emily, okay, so let's
talk about some of your favoritehikes in the Spokane area, and
maybe just tell us a little bitabout where they are, that some
of the things around theirdifficulty, like it's steep,
long, you know, that kind ofstuff. Maybe great times of year
(05:20):
to do them. Let's, let's hear alittle bit
Emily (05:22):
about that. Yeah, I would say the the closest hikes around
Spokane are on the shorter side,on the easier side, and there's
also a lot of mixed use trailsgoing on, for example, in
Riverside State Park, which ison the northwest corner of
(05:44):
Spokane. You have biking trails,you have hiking trails, walking
trails, and they're all kind oflike intermingled. So you will
see a lot of people sharing thetrail on the summertime and
just, you know, recreating howthey please. What I really like
about Riverside State Parkspecifically is all of the
(06:07):
little outlets to the river, so,as the name suggests, it's on
the riverside. So there's notreally like a destination or an
end point or like the highestpart of the trail. It kind of
like meanders along theriverside, and then ever so
often there's like a spur to,like a little private beach or
(06:27):
something. And so all of thehikes that I am envisioning
around Spokane aren't reallylike point A to point B. It's
kind of like a long trail, andthen all of these other like
little branches that you cankind of veer off of and just
have a picnic, or, you know, popup a little umbrella and take a
(06:50):
seat and enjoy the scenery. Soit's very casual and very
recreational. There's not reallylike any destination,
specifically, is in RiversideState Park. Specifically, Yep,
Jennie Flaming (07:07):
yeah, love that.
That is a really beautifulplace. What would you say, Emily
is the best time of year to goto Riverside State Park?
Emily (07:16):
Oh gosh, you know, probably the spring or early
summer. I say that because thereare lots of wildflowers, and I
just looked up the name of thisbefore this call, but it's
called Balsam root. See them alot in the Columbia River Gorge,
but you see them a ton here ineastern Washington, yep. And
(07:37):
those are those, like patches oflittle yellow flowers that kind
of look like maybe daisies, but,yeah, they're just they're
beautiful everywhere. And so ifyou and it's not too hot in late
spring, early summer, so if yougo in the morning, it's just
that really nice fresh air, andyou've got almost guaranteed
(08:00):
sunshine over here in that timeof year, so it's just like a
really pleasant time to beoutside.
Jennie Flaming (08:06):
Yeah, totally agree. Love that one. Okay. What
else? Emily,
Emily (08:12):
well, nearby too, there's mount Spokane State Park, which
is maybe a 45 minute drivedepending on where you live, in
Spokane, and I really like thatplace because there's a lot of
interest. That's a little bitmore kind of I would call, like
traditional hiking, where youhave a destination. There's one
(08:34):
trail specifically called QuartzMountain Lookout, where you park
your car at a warming hut. Soyou use it in the winter time
for cross country skiing, but inthe summertime, you can kind of
go through the network of thosecross country trails, and all of
(08:56):
the sides of the trails are likefilled with huckleberries. And
so you take, like, a little bagor a bucket or something on your
way, and you just, like, pickand eat huckleberries as you go
up to the top. And then onceyou've reached the end, there's
Quartz Mountain Lookout, andit's one of the few lookouts in
Washington state where you couldactually rent it and stay
(09:18):
overnight. Cool. Yeah, yeah, westayed overnight. Oh gosh, a
couple years ago, and it wasjust so fun, because you got to
see the city light up at, youknow, on the in the distance,
because you're like, not too faraway from Spokane, you can see
lights, you know, at the bottomof the mountain. So it was just
(09:41):
beautiful.
Jennie Flaming (09:42):
That's awesome.
You know? That just made methink of Emily, when you lived
in Seattle, did you ever go toBlake island in the Salish Sea?
Emily (09:54):
It's like, I know of it, but I don't think I've, like,
been there, been there. Yeah,it's,
Jennie Flaming (09:59):
it's. Hard to get to you, because there's not
a regular boat that goes thereanymore. There used to be, but
if you camp there, you're kindof camping on this pretty
isolated island. But then youlike, look across the water and
see downtown Seattle.
Unknown (10:17):
Oh my gosh. It
Jennie Flaming (10:19):
just made me think of that when you were
talking about about MountSpokane, kind of the same idea,
like, yeah, this, like,beautiful area, and it's quite
close to a major city, yeah,
Emily (10:32):
kind of like, perched in the middle of, you know, the
woods, and then all of a suddenyou're like, Oh yeah, there's
civilization. Yeah.
Jennie Flaming (10:39):
Love it. Okay, yeah, um, what else Emily,
Emily (10:45):
um, one place that I've really liked to go for, like a
little quick hike, is a placecalled Waikiki springs. It's
nearby Whitworth University,kind of north Spokane. And it
kind of, I forgive me if this isthe wrong term, but a lollipop
(11:05):
loop, is that what it's called,where you have the single, you
know, trail, yeah, make a bigcircle, and then you like,
return on the same trail.
Jennie Flaming (11:14):
I call that a lollipop loop. Okay,
Unknown (11:17):
yeah, I think so
Jennie Flaming (11:18):
that's at least one of two of us that do that?
Yeah,
Emily (11:21):
great, yes, yeah, it's great because it is actually one
of the entry points. So it's ait's a river. You cross a river,
when you go there, it's thelittle Spokane River, and it's
an entry point to actually floatthe little Spokane River. So an
option is to bring, like, apaddle board or a kayak or
(11:42):
something, and then pop it inthe water, and then you can
float down the river and pop outsomewhere else. Granted, sounds,
you can't hike between the two.
Maybe you can hike between thetwo, but I haven't really heard
of people doing that. But yeah,that is an option for, like, a
pop in, you know, boatsummertime activity, but yeah,
(12:03):
like I said, in Spokane, there'sa lot of mix use on these
trails, so you'll see, you know,dogs and children and boats and
bikes. So it's really fun to beable to, just like, be a part of
the community and see all ofthose people enjoying the trail
in so many different ways, yeah,which I think is really special,
but yeah, Waikiki Springs is oneof those where it's short enough
(12:26):
to take a small child and theywill, like, have fun. It's
interesting. You go up a littlehill, you come down a little
hill, you cross a river. There'scattails everywhere. Yeah,
there's a lot to see. So thatone's really fun too. Oh,
Jennie Flaming (12:43):
love it. Oh, these are so great. I am really
excited about my next trip toSpokane
Unknown (12:49):
now, yeah, go hiking together. I know that
Jennie Flaming (12:53):
would be really fun. I used to spend a lot of
time in Spokane because my auntand uncle lived there for a long
time, all the way that I wasthrough college, and you know,
up until about the time that youmoved there, they moved to
Tacoma to be closer to mycousins, so I haven't spent as
(13:13):
much time there in the last sixor seven years as I did for like
15 years before that. So, yeah,this is all okay. So Emily,
we've, so far we've talked aboutthree awesome hikes, super close
to Spokane. What else do youhave for us?
Emily (13:31):
So this is not necessarily a hike, but it's
called the Centennial Trail, andit's a 37 mile paved route that
goes from nine mile fallsWashington, all the way through
Spokane, through downtown, andgoes all the way to the Idaho
border. And I really like itbecause it goes through to town,
(13:55):
and it goes through one of myfavorite neighborhoods, Kendall
yards, and you can go getcoffee. You can see the
waterfalls downtown. You walkright back by them. There's a
donut shop on it, and so it'syour traditional hiking route.
But I that's one of my favoritethings to do. When people come
(14:15):
visit us in Spokane, we'll likewear strollers and we'll go grab
a coffee and get some donuts andjust walk, walk all the way
through downtown. And granted,we don't go all the 37 miles to
Idaho, but you can. And thenthere's so many different parts
of that trail that go through,like a quiet Riverside, and it's
(14:37):
just really special. And, like,again, very mixed use. I would
say it would be very comparableto the Green Lake Trail. Yep,
that was around Green Lake. Butit's just not a circle, it's a
line. So you see tons ofdifferent people, running,
walking with strollers, playingwith kids, biking,
rollerblading. So that is you.
That's a fun thing to do. That'snot quite hiking, but you know,
(15:02):
you're walking, you're gay,yeah, so and
Jennie Flaming (15:06):
a trail with a donut shop is like, sounds
amazing.
Emily (15:11):
Yes, yes, yep, it's one of my like, go to stops when
people come to visit us. I waslike, Okay, we're gonna kind of
woo you on Spokane. Let's go tothe Centennial Trail. Get some
gas, coffee. Yeah, yeah. Mm,hmm, perfect.
Jennie Flaming (15:27):
I actually know somebody who biked the whole
thing, and they said it wasreally awesome. Yeah,
Emily (15:33):
my brother did that recently too, on his bike. I
have yet to do it, but one ofthe big goals for birdie and I
in the next couple years is toget and invest in some really
good bikes. Ooh,
Jennie Flaming (15:44):
I'm excited about that. Yeah, perfect. Okay,
what else do you have for us?
Emily,
Emily (15:51):
there's one other one that I have in like, the very
close Spokane area, and that iscalled the painted rocks. It's
very close to our house, whichis fun because I live in
Northwest Spokane, and thistrail is located in northwest
Spokane, again, mixed use,because you go there and it's
one of the exit points forfloating the little Spokane
(16:14):
River. But one reason I reallylike it is I've actually never
made it to the end of thistrail, because there's just so
much to do in the middle. Oh, wego, and there's like, all of
these offshoot like river spots,and so all when I was growing
(16:34):
up, I don't remember making itto the end, because we always
ended up in a river spot, eatingour picnic lunch, throwing rocks
in the river, playing in theriver, and then going home. So
that's one of the first oneswe're going to take our son at
this year. He is walking now, sowe're going to let him just
decide how far he wants to go,yeah, and stop at a little river
(16:58):
spot, let him explore how hewants to and then turn around
and go back to the car. So Ireally like Spokane trails in
that way, especially the onesclose to the city, because
there's not really a destinationto get to, yep, it's just like
for the enjoyment, and there'sjust so much to do in all of the
(17:21):
parts of the trail.
Jennie Flaming (17:22):
Yeah, love it.
Oh, that sounds perfect for,like, different ages of kids and
adults and that kind of thingtoo. Love
Emily (17:31):
it for sure. You see a ton of families out in the
summertime just, just meanderingthe trail. There's no really
destination. It's just, I loveseeing families just let their
kids enjoy all parts of thetrail. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (17:46):
that's so fun.
Okay, what else?
Emily (17:51):
Well, one I have really loved this was before we had our
baby boy. It's actually Idaho,but it's one of the popular
backpacking trails that you cango to. It's in the Selkirk
mountains, and it's calledbeehive lake. I wish I had the
distance for you, but it's kindof around maybe four miles
(18:15):
total, okay, but it's incrediblysteep, which I mean, you get
there, and it's, like, veryrewarding, because, you know,
you get there, and the lake isstunning, but I would say it's
more, how do I say this beehiveLake is kind of like you climb
(18:36):
over the mountain and then youpop in, and I would say it's a
Traditional kind of what youwould expect a one day
backpacking trip to look like,if you can Cascade Mountains,
for example, yep, but it's just,you know, in northern Idaho, and
I would say it's right outsideof standpoint. So this okay,
you're committing to maybe anhour and a half drive to the
(18:58):
trail head from Spokane. Andit's really beautiful. It's
drier than the Cascade Mountainswhen you're walking through I
would say, yeah, it's similar,but you're just not getting much
rain, yep. And that one isreally fun and a very easy day,
(19:23):
like one day hike, I would sayit's it's not easy getting there
because it's pretty steep. Butas far as, like the time frame
that you need to do it in, it'seasy to do it in one night,
right?
Jennie Flaming (19:38):
So it makes for a good even though it's a tough
trail, it makes for a good onenight backpacking trip because
it's not super far and it'shard, but it's not extremely
long, so it's doable, even ifyou go really slow.
Emily (19:55):
That is correct, yeah.
And one of the my favorite partsof the trip is. Is going down
and then going back intoSandpoint. There's a ton of
really good like, burritoplaces, coffee places,
standpoints, kind of a moredestination Lake town. It's on
the ponderay lake, so there'sjust a lot of good food. So it's
(20:16):
always the best when you have,like, a really hard hike, and
then you're rewarded with, like,a really delicious meal
afterwards, and not know theperfect place to do it. Love it.
Jennie Flaming (20:28):
Great tip.
Wonderful. Yeah. Okay, so let'ssee. Do you have one or two more
for us? Emily, am I keepingtrack? Okay,
Emily (20:37):
I think so. Yeah, I have one more. Okay, perfect. It's
kind of a hiking trail, but kindof not, and it's actually
Montana, ooh. And I say it'sMontana because, well, it is,
and it's close and accessible toSpokane, which is why I like it.
Yeah, it's called Garnet ghosttown. Okay, let's actually, I'm
(21:01):
gonna look it up really fast.
Yep, it's called Garnet ghosttown, and you can hike into it,
or you can park close, dependingon, like, there is accessibility
parking if you want to go, like,straight into the ghost town.
Gotcha. And there is a littlekind of trail that you can
follow that goes through all ofthe old, I think it was a mining
town, and there's the buildingsare still standing. It's
(21:25):
preserved, yeah, and somaintained. It's not like,
updated or anything, but theykeep the buildings, like,
intact, so they're not like,falling down and being like a
danger to people, right? It isreally cool. And you can hike
all the way up to, like a schoolhouse. That's way far in the
woods. There's a lot of like,little hidden gems that you can
(21:45):
explore. And so it's not quitelike a traditional hike, like
you park your car, you go to alake and you come back, yeah,
but it's interesting, becausethere's so much history involved
in this place. I think it waslike a gold miner town, okay?
And I'm not sure why it stoppedbeing a town and then everybody
(22:05):
moved out, but, yeah, it'sintact, and it's really fun to
go to. There's this like, littlepamphlet that you get with all
the information of, like, whatthis house is and what the use
was, and it's reallyinteresting. And, yeah, get your
hiking shoes on, because there'sa lot to see, and it is a big
space. Oh, that's really cool.
(22:28):
Yeah, it's really fun. And youcan go in most of the buildings
too. Oh,
Jennie Flaming (22:32):
that sounds like a really fun adventure. So you
said it's in Montana. Um, like,where is it like, close to I 90,
or do you take a different roadto get there? Kind of, how do
you get there?
Emily (22:47):
Let me look it up. I would say it's close to
Missoula. It's outside ofMissoula, a little Okay, so I
know we're talking about hikesin eastern Washington. So this
one's a little bit of a stretch.
You
Jennie Flaming (22:59):
know what? Emily you I have never heard of this,
and I just love it. And so Ithink you are telling us your
favorites as a local, and I loveit, and it's totally cool if
it's in Montana or Idaho,
Emily (23:13):
okay, yeah, it's, I would say it's probably like in the
three to three and a half hourdrive from Spokane. So it's
yeah, what, what me and myfamily did was we went and we
camped nearby, yep, and then theday trip was to go to Garnet
ghost town and then come down toour campsite. But it was one of
those things where, if youwanted to take a weekend trip
(23:36):
from Spokane, that is 1,000%Yep, a doable, easy trip,
because there's a lot ofcamping, like, campgrounds
nearby, yeah? So you couldtotally do that in a weekend,
which is, yeah,
Jennie Flaming (23:49):
definitely. But so it's close to Missoula,
Emily (23:53):
yeah, it's, it's just outside of Missoula, more on,
like, the eastern side, yep. Sokind of by Sealy, like, if
you've ever heard of that place,that's a great place to go
camping. Nice. But, yeah, it'sreally fun. And hi, you know, I
know it's a little bit fartherfrom Spokane. I do know that
there's some ghost towns closeto Spokane that I would like to
check out personally, but I willgone there.
Jennie Flaming (24:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. My husband, Jay
is from Montana and closer toYellowstone. His parents worked
in the park, and he and his bestfriend in high school spent lots
of time exploring ghost towns,kind of in that part of Montana.
But I hadn't heard of this one.
And you know, Missoula waspretty far for the probably,
(24:38):
well, probably further fromMissoula than Spokane is
actually, yeah, oh, that's socool. And so one question I had
about beehive Lake, I wanted togo back to that for a second,
which was in Idaho. So youtalked about it being a
backpacking trip, but I assumeit would be a. A pretty good day
(24:58):
hike as well. I mean, it wouldbe longer, of course, because
you'd be going out there andback in one day. Have you done
it as a day hike? Would yourecommend that? Or do you feel
like this is really a place togo for backpacking?
Emily (25:13):
I would say you could totally do it as a day hike. It
would take all day, because, youknow, you have to factor in if
you are from Spokane, or you'relike, home base, you know, for
hiking in Spokane, you'redriving there all day, yeah,
it's probably all day, and thenyou're hiking in the hot sun,
and then you're coming back anhour and a half, yeah, I would
(25:35):
say, if you are, like, kind ofbase camping in Coeur d'Alene or
Sandpoint. That's a little bitmore fun because it won't take
you all day. But the reason thatwe chose to do it with a
backpacking trip is, one,because of the drive, and two,
it was just a really hot, likeend of July time, and jumping in
(25:56):
the lake was so refreshing. Andso to be able to, like, you
know, set up camp, sit down,have a meal, jump in the lake
during the day. It was justreally fun to have that like
easy time, to just take it slow.
Yeah, that was when we reallygot to enjoy it. And then we got
to watch the sunrise. It was sobeautiful. So you totally could
(26:16):
do it as a day hike. But Ipersonally would recommend it as
an overnight because of all ofthe elements that you miss out
on during a day hike, like themorning sunrise, jumping in the
lake, a meal, taking a nap,
Jennie Flaming (26:35):
Yeah, I bet the stars must be amazing there too.
Oh yeah,
Emily (26:39):
oh yeah. And what is special about Spokane hiking or
overnight backpacking aroundhere is that the the sky is
really clear, like all the time.
So you do get really good, goodstar reviews at night over here
in eastern Washington.
Jennie Flaming (26:58):
Amazing. Love.
It Wonderful. Well, Emily, thankyou so much for sharing these
wonderful Spokane area plusIdaho plus Montana hikes. Um
with us. Anything else you wantto say about any of these hikes
or Spokane before we before wewrap up? No. First
Emily (27:19):
of all, thanks for letting me, like divert into
Idaho and Montana. I know thisis a Washington podcast, so I
appreciate it.
Jennie Flaming (27:26):
We have, we have episodes about our neighbors as
well, so it's perfect.
Emily (27:30):
Love, awesome. No, it's been really fun to chat with
you, and I hope that everybodygets to experience Spokane at
some point in their life. I justthink it's a really beautiful
place to just take hiking alittle bit more slow and
recreate among a lot ofdifferent people who are
choosing to just enjoy the trailin a different way. So I just
(27:53):
think that that is a beautifulpart of Spokane, and yeah, I
hope everybody gets to come hereand experience it for
Jennie Flaming (27:59):
themselves. I hope so too. Thank you so much.
Emily,
Unknown (28:03):
yeah, thank you so much.
Jennie Flaming (28:06):
If you're enjoying the podcast, we would
love to have you leave us arating or review wherever you're
listening that will really helpother people find us. And don't
forget, there's a link toCraig's books and my email list
in the show notes, if you'd liketo connect with us and support
us further, and you can alwaysleave us a tip in the show
(28:28):
notes. You.
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