By Holly Weiler 

Cover photo courtesy of Lara Gricar

Outdoor Reminders 

• Winter conditions can impact access to high-elevation trailheads, so it’s time to double-check your vehicle’s emergency kit to make sure it contains helpful extras for snowy conditions (for instance, a folding snow shovel). It is also a transition time to winter parking permit season, when some high-elevation parking lots have snow removal funded through the purchase of seasonal parking passes. In Washington, Sno-Park season begins Dec. 1 and lasts through March, with over 100 Sno-Park locations across the state, including popular spots like Mount Spokane State Park and Sherman Pass. In North Idaho, a Park N’ Ski permit is required for access to seven maintained winter trailheads, including those at Priest Lake and Fourth of July Pass. Oregon maintains its own Sno-Park system as well but has a reciprocal agreement with Idaho. Purchase a permit for the state you visit the most. 

Free Outdoor-themed Entertainment 

• Chelan-Douglas Land Trust (CDLT) is hosting an outdoor clothing and gear exchange Dec. 13 from noon to 3 p.m. (location TBD; check the website). This is a free event; no registration required. Please bring clean, functional outdoor clothing and gear to swap. Those who would like to donate without attending the swap may drop off equipment at the CDLT office during the week before the event. It is not necessary to bring trade items in order to participate the day of the event; if you need outdoor gear, please attend.  

• Additionally, Chelan-Douglas Land Trust is hosting a Winter Solstice Walk at Castle Rock in Wenatchee’s Lower Castle Rock Natural Area Dec. 20 from 7 to 9 a.m. Advance registration is required to join this 2-mile round-trip hike. 

• Fee-free days at Washington State Parks are scheduled for Jan. 1 and Jan. 20. Additionally, a variety of free First Day Hikes will be offered at Washington State Parks on New Year’s Day (advance registration is required). Please note that Mount Spokane State Park does not fall under fee-free days during Sno-Park season. If you don’t have a Sno-Park permit, watch for the offerings at Riverside State Park and Columbia Plateau State Park Trail instead, where no Discover Pass will be necessary on the holiday. 

• Free Idaho Park N’ Ski Day is Jan. 3, with a chance to visit Idaho’s Nordic and snowshoeing trails without the usual parking fee. Several areas mark this event with activities, including free lessons and guided snowshoe hikes at Indian Creek State Park near Priest Lake and the Idaho Panhandle Nordic Club’s annual Best Hand Poker XC-Ski and Snowshoe fundraiser. There is a nominal fee to enter the poker competition, because it’s a fundraiser to help support grooming efforts at the Fourth of July Pass trail system; sometimes there are nearly as many raffle prizes as participants! 

• Methow Trails’ Backyard Ski Day is Jan. 30, with free winter trail access across the valley’s vast trail system. There will be free group beginner ski lessons for both classic and skate skiing, free fat bike demos and a free ski wax clinic. A few local businesses are even offering a limited number of free ski rentals for the day. 
  
  

Fundraisers, Contests and Events 

• Inland Northwest Land Conservancy will host its Common Ground annual meeting at CenterPlace Regional Event Center Dec. 9. Registration is required and space is limited. 

• Have you visited a National Recreation Trail this year? It’s time for American Trails’ annual photo contest. Photographers can submit up to 10 photos per trail under categories like trail use, trail management, trail features and artistic merit. Be sure to check the database of National Recreation Trails in our region to ensure the trail you visited qualifies. Photos are due Dec. 15, and winners will be announced in February. 

• The Backcountry Film Festival – Winter Wildlands Alliance offers several regional screenings of festival films highlighting human-powered winter recreation. Each showing serves as a fundraiser for the host organization. Catch it in Spokane Dec. 6, hosted by the Spokane Mountaineers. SOLE will host the film festival in Sandpoint Jan. 9. The University of Idaho Outdoor Program will bring the show to Moscow Jan. 28. On Feb. 3 the film festival will be shown in Whitefish, hosted by Wild Montana. Chewelah Valley Land Trust, Montana Backcountry Alliance (Missoula) and El Sendero Backcountry Ski and Snowshoe Club (Wenatchee) also plan to host the film festival this winter (check online for dates). 

• The Wenatchee River Institute will be the beneficiary of “Benevolent Night” at München House in Leavenworth Jan. 6, with 25% of sales donated to support the nonprofit. The event will run from 4 to 8 p.m.  

• Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to Spokane Jan. 9-11. Saturday night’s VIP ticket sales will benefit the nonprofit of your choice among several worthy local organizations. This event sells out every year, so don’t procrastinate! 

• Spokane Nordic will host Winterfest Jan. 18, featuring $10 Nordic ski lessons for both adults and children, plus a scavenger hunt for kids and a skijor clinic at Selkirk Lodge at Mount Spokane State Park. Additional not-to-be-missed events include the annual Langlauf Nordic ski race Jan. 25 and the BarkerBeiner Skijor Race, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 22. 

Stewardship, Conservation, and Volunteer Opportunities 

• Many of our region’s stewardship and conservation organizations take a short break during the winter season, but those looking for an opportunity to do some winter trail maintenance should watch for offerings from Washington Trails Association. Most of WTA’s winter projects are on snowshoe trails, snow depth permitting. Watch for opportunities within Mount Spokane State Park and on Spokane County Parks’ Conservation Futures properties. A limited number of snowshoes are available to borrow. Contact the crew leader if you’d like to try a project but need to borrow snowshoes. Check the WTA website for the full schedule. 

• Spokane Nordic hosts multiple events throughout the winter and is always seeking volunteer assistance to make those events run smoothly. Tasks may range from helping visitors park safely and efficiently to assisting with event check-in or serving as an on-course race marshal (typically on skis). Check out the Spokane Nordic website for opportunities. 

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At the end of September, Inland Northwest Land Conservancy (INLC) announced a $4M capital campaign to complete the protection of the Glen Tana area, an 1,100 acre piece of land with two miles of river in the Little Spokane River Valley. And in October, the Spokane Audubon Society (SAS) made the bold step of “adopting” 10 acres of that land by making a $10,000 gift to the campaign to protect it. 

This gift was doubly special because the funds used to secure the land for conservation stemmed from a land protection partnership between the SAS and INLC more than two decades earlier. Reardan, Washington’s East Lake had gone up for sale and a group of avid birders rushed to protect this vital migratory haven from being sold and developed. 

With the help of the Conservancy, the small but dedicated team raised $51,000 to secure an option-to-purchase. Then the Conservancy took out a $350,000 loan, a massive commitment for the Land Trust, barely 10 years old at the time. INLC acted as a “bridge owner,” holding the land until the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) could purchase it. 

East end of Audubon Lake

Today, you can visit the Reardan Audubon Lake Wildlife Area—permanently protected for birds, animals, native plants, and people to enjoy. Thanks to the quick thinking, and dedication of Spokane Audubon Society and Inland Northwest Land Conservancy. But that was only the beginning of the story. The money from WDFW’s purchase of the land went into a fund specifically designated for bridge ownership projects in which INLC’s typical method of protecting private land with a permanent legal agreement didn’t fit the bill, and outright purchase was the only way to protect well-loved, important natural spaces. 

This fund came to bear more recently in the permanent protection of Rimrock to Riverside, a connecting piece of land between Palisades Park and Riverside State Park. This area is now owned and managed by Spokane City Parks. The fund was also used to add 55 acres to the Saltese Uplands Conservation Area, situated between the rapidly growing Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake. 

Chris DeForest touring Deep Creek Preserve

As the number of projects grew, the fund did as well, enabling Inland Northwest Land Conservancy to purchase Glen Tana in 2023. The Conservancy is holding this land that will ultimately be owned and managed by Washington State Parks and the Spokane Tribe of Indians. The Conservancy’s capital campaign, mentioned above, helps to cover the cost of caring for the land for the time being. It will also replenish the funds used to purchase the land, meaning that INLC will be able to protect more well-loved and important spaces for the benefit of the community. 

The Spokane Audubon Society’s decision to contribute to this campaign through “Adopt-an-acre” was made by the organization’s board as a way to protect important habitat for the birds they love. “To save birds, you have to save the habitat they depend on. And, as the Spokane Audubon Society is not in the business of buying land, it makes perfect sense for them to support INLC, an organization that is in the business of buying land needed for wildlife corridors.” –Elizabeth Melville, INLC Blog. 

While the organization or hiking group you’re involved with might not have been at the forefront of protecting migratory bird habitat in the early 2000s, adopting an acre TODAY is a great way to ensure that places you love to play will be around for the long haul. The $1000 price tag to adopt an acre might seem like a lot to individuals, but this is a chance to get together with your riding buddies, your hiking friends, your photography pals, or your ski bum cohorts to make a difference together for the future of our beautiful outdoors! To learn more about how to adopt an acre, or to make your financial commitment today, visit InlandNWLand.org/Adopt-an-acre or contact INLC’s director of philanthropy, Carol Corbin at ccorbin@inlandnwland.org. 

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This past September, nearly 2,000 acres of North Idaho forest along Prichard Creek, a tributary of the Coeur d’Alene River between the town of Prichard and Thompson Pass, was protected from future development thanks to an Idaho Forest Group (IFG) donation of a conservation agreement to Kaniksu Land Trust. Portions of this section of Prichard Creek stand out to many who pass by due to the large piles of rock surrounding the waterway. These rock pile features were left behind from mining by the Yukon Gold Company that involved a frenzy of nearly non-stop, 24-hours-a-day dredging with a massive six-stories-high machine and crew of 12 men between 1917 and 1926.

The conservation agreement encompasses 1,023 acres of riparian habitat (10.5 miles of the 14-mile stream), 921 acres of forested uplands, and equates to an over three-million-dollar donation by Idaho Forest Group (IFG), one of the largest lumber producers in North America that owns and manages nearly 70,000 acres of land in Idaho and Washington, operates six sawmills, and employs nearly 1,300 workers. The Prichard Creek conservation agreement, a conservation easement between IFG and Kaniksu Land Trust where IFG donated the value of future development potential, permanently protects the area. The agreement also outlines continued restoration of the tributary and adjacent national forest public lands, in partnership with several non-profit conservation organizations and natural resource managers, including Trout Unlimited and Restoration Partnership.

“IFG’s commitment to forest stewardship and sustainability is at the heart of this work,” says IFG Owner, Marc Brinkmeyer. “We are proud to have partnered with many local, state, federal and conservation agencies to develop a multi-phase restoration plan to ensure the protection of this important area that offers a key habitat and holds such rich history.”

Years of hard-rock and placer mining have greatly impacted Prichard Creek, its floodplain and fish habitat. The creek had been severely degraded by the past mining that removed thousands of tons of sediment, created five-mile-long rock piles, altered the creek’s shape, reduced vegetation, eroded banks, increased sediment in the water, and caused a three-mile stretch to flow subsurface during summer months.

The first phase of the restoration project began in the summer of 2023 and included the strategic installation of natural wooden structures along a four-mile stretch of Prichard Creek (to restore water flow) and planting vegetation (to enhance ecosystems and naturally support the wooden structures).  This phase was funded by the Restoration Partnership—a group of federal, state, and tribal trustees—who aim to mitigate environmental damage from historical mining practices. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality served as the fiscal sponsor for the project and Trout Unlimited managed the project with significant involvement from IFG.

“We’ve seen a lot of positive outcomes a year later, including beaver activity, vegetation establishment, improved in-stream habitat diversity and increased use of the channel by cutthroat trout,” says North Idaho program manager for Trout Unlimited, Erin Plue. “We are very proud of the work this collaboration has done to date and look forward to continued restoration and protection.”

Despite the legacy of mining in and around the creek, long-term heavy metal contamination in the watershed is minimal compared to sections of the Coeur d’Alene River within the designated Superfund Site area of the Silver Valley and farther downstream, says Plue. “There don’t seem to be any lingering contamination hot spots, as most of the mill sites were cleaned up back in the early 2000s.” This is good news for fish, other wildlife, and anglers and means that despite the piles of mining debris that remain along much of this section of the creek, restoration efforts already underway can more quickly turn things around.

Ideally, the next phase of restoration will be in that central part of the Prichard Creek conservation parcel with the rock piles, says Plue. “It’s still in the planning phase,” she says, “but it’s looking like a significant portion of the piles would be removed to restore the flood plain over time as funding becomes available.”

Creek and fishery restoration efforts involve restoring meanders to the stream, but previously dredged sections of the creek bed that were excavated as deep as 25 feet in some places now allow sections of Prichard Creek to flow underground during low-flow summer months, making future restoration efforts to restore above-ground flow more complex and expensive, explains Plue. “A lot of this project is built around trapping sediment in some areas and moving it to others to create pools and stability.” In places where past dredging disturbed millions of years of fine sediment pockets that previously allowed the water to flow over, new underground dams of rock, logs, and fine sediments will need to be re-constructed to bring the above-ground stream flow back, she says.

Future phases will focus on improving access to fish habitats, securing water resources, providing public recreational access, ensuring forest health, preventing land conversion, halting further mining, and creating educational venues. The long-term project will involve securing grants for continued restoration efforts over many years. Plue emphasized that ongoing collaboration with Restoration Partnership has been and will continue to be crucial to the full restoration of Prichard Creek. The finalization of the conservation agreement is a testament to the dedication and collaborative efforts of IFG and its many partners that include Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Idaho Fish & Game, Idaho Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho Fish & Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Trout Unlimited, the Restoration Partnership, and Kaniksu Land Trust.

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Free Outdoor Entertainment

• Upcoming fee-free days for Washington State Parks include March 9 (Billy Frank Junior’s birthday), March 19 (celebrate the 111^th birthday of Washington State Parks!) and April 22 (Earth Day). A Discover Pass is not required for park entry on these dates.
• National Park Week will be held April 20-28, with April 20 additionally being a fee-free day at National Parks.
• Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness will host Hiking 101 for beginners on March 23, followed by a strenuous full moon snowshoe trek to Star Peak on March 24.

Fundraisers & Events

• Spokane Nordic will close out the ski season with a long distance Loppet on March 3 followed by the popular BarkerBeiner skijor race on March 10. The Loppet includes distances of 20, 30 and 50k. The skijor race pairs skier and best friend(s), with one- and two-dog events and multiple distance options. The skijor races can also be a great spectator activity!
• Bower Climbing Coalition will be hosting the Reel Rock 17 film at the Washington Cracker Company Building in Spokane on March 5. The nonprofit will also host an Earth Day crag clean-up at Minnehaha on April 22. ( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reel-rock-18-annual-fundraiser-for-the-bower-climbing-coalition-tickets-841483177837?aff=oddtdtcreator )
• Okanogan Highlands Alliance will be offering three Friday evening programs in their Highland Wonders series. Each event features a fundraiser dinner starting at 5:15 p.m. followed by a free presentation at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Cultural Center in Tonasket. Topics include Partnering with Beavers on March 8, Native Bees and Other Pollinators on March 29, and Common Loons on April 26.
•  Screenings of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival will be held at the historic Panida Theatre in Sandpoint on March 22, with proceeds to benefit Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, and on April 25 at Spokane’s Garland Theater, presented by Spokane Riverkeeper.

Conservation, Stewardship & Volunteer Opportunities

• The American Hiking Society offers Volunteer Vacation stewardship opportunities across the country. Join a local crew at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge, April 14-20, or at Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, April 21-27.
• Hells Canyon Recreation Collaborative will be hosting an Earth Day weekend volunteer trail maintenance project in Hells Canyon, April 19-22. HCRC projects are typically jetboat-supported and may work on either the Idaho or Oregon side of the Snake River. Additional trips will be offered throughout the season, so be sure to sign up for the email list if interested in helping trails within the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.
• Washington Trails Association will be transitioning from snowshoe projects in early March to annual maintenance projects in Spokane County Parks in April. The first Backcountry Response Team trip is scheduled at Indian Creek Community Forest, April 26-28. As a front-country location, this is an excellent introduction to multi-day trail work trips!
• Several other stewardship organizations have spring schedules that will go live in early March, with projects that will fill quickly! Be sure to check websites for Idaho Trail Association, Wild Montana, Pacific Northwest Trail Association, Wallowa Mountains-Hells Canyon Trails Association, and the Blues Crew for additional spring stewardship opportunities. //

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Cover photo courtesy of Bobby Whittaker

I walked the newly opened stretch of the Children of the Sun Trail on a sunny afternoon from Hillyard’s Columbia Avenue to Cleveland Avenue in the Minnehaha neighborhood. Traffic hummed along Market Street while the still-dormant section of the North-South Corridor slept like a concrete giant.

The impact of an urban trail is most apparent when experienced in person. I saw people jogging. There were people on bikes. My dog made friends with an adorable Doxen and neighbors smiled at us and waved. There’s no doubt that the trail adds a new dimension to the neighborhood.

The trail itself is the result of years of strategic placemaking efforts and community outreach. The new stretch, which opened last December, now includes a full 7 miles of protected paved pathway from the trail’s endpoint in North Spokane’s Wandermere neighborhood to its temporary stopping point. When completed, the Children of the Sun Trail will run the length of the North Spokane Corridor. The trail will ultimately connect to the Ben Burr Trail and the Centennial Trail, creating the first pedestrian and bike path with safe access from Spokane County’s northern reaches to downtown and, via the Centennial Trail, all the way to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

It also makes a safe passage from multiple residential neighborhoods to bustling Hillyard businesses. Families can walk to dinner or to the grocery store. Cyclists can use it as a direct route nearly all the way to Minnehaha Park and the Beacon Hill mountain bike trail system. The Washington State Department of Transportation has created something good.

It’s not a perfect world. While the path brings all the benefits of an urban trail, it also brings with it a whole freeway that now dominates these once quiet neighborhoods. As I walked the path, two people illegally raced by on a motorcycle and quad respectively, and litter has piled up along the edges of the trail. It will take some love and energy from the community to keep the trail safe and clean, and it will be worth it. 

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The Trolley Trail is part of an old rail bed designed for an electric trolley that ran from Spokane to Medical Lake in the early 1900s. The recently-acquired land, willingly sold by a private landowner, locks down an additional 1,000 feet of the historic trail so it will be open to the public for the foreseeable future. Visit blog posts from January at Spokanecity.org for a map highlighting the specific area of purchase. The new property can be accessed via the 18^th Street right-of-way off south C Street in the Grandview neighborhood. On this trail, pine trees tower, wildlife thrives, and you can catch hillsides full of arrowleaf balsamroot by mid-spring. Find the official Trolley Trail trailhead off S. Assembly Road.  (OTO)

Cover photo courtesy of Lisa Laughlin

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Cover photo courtesy of Phil Larkin

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• Free, guided late-winter snowshoe hikes and Nordic ski outings with Friends of Scotchman Peak Wilderness wrap up in early March. Check their website for events that range from strenuous, all-day tours to locations of Star Peak Lookout and Spar Lake to a moderate wildlife tracking outing to Blue Creek Watershed. 
• Join Methow Conservancy for upcoming presentations featuring Washington wildlife. The March 7 offering will be online and focuses on predator and prey relationships. March 14 will be an in-person presentation (Twisp River Tap House) on how wildlife and recreation interact. On April 4, they will be joined by WDFW for an in-person presentation (Winthrop Barn) on the Karelian bear dog program as a tool for wildlife management.
• Celebrate the anniversary of Washington State Parks (since 1913!) with a fee-free day on March 19th. In April, Earth Day falls on a Saturday for 2023 and is a fee-free day for all Washington State-managed public lands.
• April 22nd is a fee-free day for National Parks, as well as the start of National Park Week. Both virtual and in-person events will be held at parks across the nation between April 22-April 30, so be sure to check nps.gov for opportunities.

Fundraisers & Events

• Spokane Nordic will close out the ski season with a Loppet event (long distance ski) on March 5 and the fantastic BarkerBeiner skijor events for humans and their canine partners on March 12.
• Bower Climbing Coalition is bringing Reel Rock 17 to Spokane on March 5 with all proceeds going to support the nonprofit.
• Okanogan Land Trust will be holding their Spring Forward! fundraiser on March 11 at the Community Cultural Center in Tonasket.

Conservation & Stewardship News and Opportunities

• The Spokane Conservation District is bringing back its Backyard Conservation Stewardship Program in March! The program cost is $45 and meets every Monday evening. Registration information is available at SCCD.org.
• Hells Canyon Recreation Collaborative will resume spring projects in early March, with opportunities ranging from front-country facilities improvements to trail maintenance projects with jetboat shuttles to work sites on both the Idaho and Oregon sides of the Snake River. Email hellscanyonrecreation@gmail.com to learn more!
• Join Inland Northwest Land Conservancy for a chipping and mulching day at Waikiki Springs on March 15, or for a birding hike at Saltese Flats on March 19. In April, help the Conservancy construct a new native plant nursery on April 5, followed by a native plant potting party at their new site on April 22.
• Washington Trails Association Back Country Response Team trips for summer are open for registration! One early season opportunity will be held at Indian Creek Community Forest April 28-30, with private camping for the volunteer crew. Eastern Washington day trips are also open for volunteers.
• Idaho Trails Association trips will be live and ready for registrations beginning March 1st. Trips will be scheduled throughout Idaho and include both day projects and backcountry trips.
• Pacific Northwest Trail Association volunteer trail projects will be available to potential volunteers beginning in March. Or, for those who enjoy hiking trails within the Colville National Forest, PNTA is always seeking early season conditions reports which can be submitted at any time! See https://newashingtontrails.com/volunteer/ to learn more.
• Weekly Thursday evening trail-work parties with the Pend Oreille Pedalers in Sandpoint resume April 13. Email POPpedalers@gmail.com to sign up.
• Backcountry Horsemen of Washington have secured an important grant to help fund efforts to restore trails impacted by multiple fires in the Pasayten Wilderness! Watch their website for opportunities to get involved.

Holly Weiler is a long-time contributor to Out There Venture and writes The Trailhead column for each issue. You can find all of her hike recommendations at Outthereoutdoors.com.

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Explorer Backpacks Free for Checkout

Spokane Conservation District is now offering Explorer Backpacks for checkout to local families with K-12 students. Each pack can be checked out for up to two weeks and includes educational materials on one of five different themes (trees, rocks and soil, water, pollinators, and snow).

This program can be paired with Spokane-area libraries’ Check Out Washington Pass, which includes a Discover Pass for free entry into Washington State Parks (and other state-managed lands). The library kits additionally include binoculars and field guides and the check-out period is seven days. Plan a family adventure!

NE Washington Forest Road Closures

The Sullivan/Newport Ranger District of the Colville National Forest will have some temporary closures for road improvement work this fall, impacting access to several popular hiking and backpacking destinations on the forest.

Both Highline Road and Sullivan Creek Road will be closed for several weeks, preventing vehicle access to trailheads for Sullivan Mountain and Crowell Ridge, Gypsy Meadows, Thunder Creek, Shedroof Cut-off, Salmo Mountain, and the Salmo Loop.

Hiker access to Crowell Ridge will need to start at the Red Bluff or Halliday Trail trailheads, and hiker access to the Shedroof Divide will only be available at Pass Creek Pass.

Parking Lot Work at Slavin

Improvement work for trailhead parking at Slavin Conservation Area southwest of Spokane began in September, with completion expected in early November.

Spokane County Parks will do their best to ensure the trails are still accessible during the majority of the work, but there may be times when access is temporarily closed to allow crews to complete crucial steps of the process. Be sure to check Spokane County Park’s website before a visit to Slavin this fall.

Saltese Uplands Expansion

By early October, Saltese Uplands Conservation Area near Liberty Lake, Wash., will grow by 10 percent! Spokane County Parks is expected to close soon on a 54.6-acre addition to the popular hiking, mountain biking, and trail running destination.

Fall Trail Projects Need Volunteers

Trail work and public lands stewardship projects continue to seek volunteer help across the region. Fall brings cooler temperatures and plenty of work to be done to keep trails in good shape after high summer use and prepare them for the upcoming ski, fat biking, and snowshoe season.

• Join the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness for a trail maintenance project at Napoleon Gulch in early September, or for their end-of-hiking-season trek up to the summit of Scotchman Peak in early October. Advance registration required.
• Pend Oreille Pedalers will host Thursday evening trail work events throughout the fall. Check their website for meeting locations.
• WTA has continuing projects at Mount Spokane State Park and within several Spokane County conservation areas, and will be hosting a National Public Lands Day project at Fishtrap Recreation Area.
• Pacific Northwest Trail Association’s season continues through the beginning of October, with several drop-in or backpack volunteer opportunities in northeast Washington.

Holly Weiler is a long-time contributor to Out There Venture and writes The Trailhead column for each issue.

Find more trail recommendations in the Hike of the Month column.

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