September 2016

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THE INLAND NW GUIDE TO OUTDOOR ADVENTURE, TRAVEL AND THE OUTDOOR LIFESTYLE

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UNEXPECTED IN THE BEST WAYS

The most inspiring moments come through simple and unexpected discoveries—a crisp morning stroll along Whitefish Lake, a hike through the vibrant landscape of Glacier National Park, or the aroma of a crackling fireplace at the end of a long, adventure-filled day.

Hiking in Glacier National Park photo © Noah Couser

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

COntents

Features

24 | Cycling in the City 26 | Biking the Rock Lake Loop

28 Special Sections 17 | Fall Travel

departments 11 | Biking 15 | Biking 23 | Gear 27 | Race Report 27 | Food & Fuel 28 | Out There Spotlight

17 in every issue

23 columns

7

| From the Editor

8

| Out There News & Events

10 | Hike of the Month 13 | Urban Outdoors 14 | Out There Kids

12 | Everyday Cyclist

29 | Outdoor Calendar

22 | Run Wild

30 | Last Page

21

“We’ve developed systems of misery mitigation and adventure instigation to make some of the most incredible memories.”

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Out There Monthly / SEPTEMBER 2016 www.outtheremonthly.com Publishers

Shallan & Derrick Knowles Editor-in-chief

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Andrew Butler Contributing Writers:

S. Michal Bennett Dave Dutro Hank Greer Jon Jonckers Katie LeBlanc Janelle McCabe Dave McGrane Ammi Midstokke Erika Prins Simonds Aaron Theisen Nick Thomas Wil Wheaton Holly Weiler Contributing photographers:

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Mailing Address: PO Box #5 Spokane, WA 99210 www.outtheremonthly.com, 509 / 822 / 0123 FIND US ON FACEBOOK Out There Monthly is published once a month by Out There Monthly, LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. ©Copyright 2016 Out There Monthly, LLC. The views expressed in this magazine reflect those of the writers and advertisers and not necessarily Out There Monthly, LLC. Disclaimer: Many of the activities depicted in this magazine carry a significant risk of personal injury or death.

Rock climbing, river rafting, snow sports, kayaking, cycling, canoeing and backcountry activities are inherently dangerous. The owners and contributors to Out There Monthly do not recommend that anyone participate in these activities unless they are experts or seek qualified professional instruction and/or guidance, and are knowledgeable about the risks, and are personally willing to assume all responsibility associated with those risks.

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Photo + Design: Factory Town

From The Editor: Fit to Be Useful I spent much of the summer in a rut. Actually, it was a ditch, or several of them to be exact.

Sometimes they grew into rather large holes, one in particular that stretched nearly five feet down into multi-colored layers of backyard dirt. With a home-front construction project needing attention in the heart of summer, there were choices.

Pay someone with a machine to dig waste and water line trenches, rent the equipment and do it myself, or go old school and save money and get my exercise with a shovel and rock bar.

My decision meant sacrifices. The usual trips and summer rituals of rides and hikes had to wait, but I learned a few things swinging a Pulaski and heaving up shovels of rocky earth: 1. If you dig with enough fury, you can get short bursts of effort

that might qualify as a cardio workout. 2. There is little adventure in hard manual labor, but plenty of sweat-inducing challenge that will test muscles you never use behind a computer no matter how hard you type. 3. You think a lot about the Missoula Floods when you’re four feet down in a hole pitching flood-deposited river rock to the surface. 4. It takes a lot of beer to stay motivated to dig 50 feet of ditch through the aforementioned flood debris. 5.

Working in Chacos feels nice on your hot feet, until that inevitable rock comes tumbling down on your big toe and huge dry cracks painfully appear on your bone-dry heels. 6. Thinking about how much you would rather be mountain biking or floating the river when you’re covered in dust mud, rock baring away in 90 degree heat doesn’t do much to

lift your spirits but can inspire some creative combinations of common expletives.

I had a lot of time to think (maybe too much time) while tunneling into the earth. “Be fit to be useful” goes a favorite saying of some natural movement practitioners that kept popping into my head as I shoveled. The basic idea is to exercise and get workouts by moving our bodies in the ways they are built for –including things like climbing, jumping, crawling, dodging, running, lifting, balancing and other movements human beings have been doing on a daily basis for thousands of years – with the end goal being a more holistic, natural fitness and readiness to be useful and help others when there are things (like trench digging) that need to be done. (Check out the book “Natural Born Heroes”

by Christopher McDougall for an engaging historical narrative that dives into the emerging natural movement phenomenon to learn more.)

Earlier this summer at Spokatopia, we met personal trainer Donnie Kissick, a passionate movement practitioner who is always looking for students and others who are excited about turning local gyms, parks, natural areas and urban features into playgrounds for exploring the ways our bodies are meant to move. Find his contact info on page 30 and give him a call if you want to help kick start a local natural movement community. // Derrick Knowles, Editor editor@outtheremonthly.com

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Out ThereNews&Events

Spokane Woman on Staff at Rio Paralympics From September 7 through 18, the Rio

SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

September

17th & 18th

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Paralympic Games will take place in Brazil, and Spokane physical therapist, occasional OTM contributor and former Olympic rower Jamie Redman will be there, this time as a staff member on the U.S. team. Redman, who was on the U.S. women’s Olympic rowing team at the London 2012 games, is an Athlete Services Coordinator, where she’ll provide logistical support to the U.S. Olympic Committee staff. “I’m a liaison between the athletes, the village staff, and the Rio organizing committee. If an athlete has any kind of issue (like a health crisis, a roommate dispute, a uniform malfunction), I’m the one who’ll figure out how to reduce their stress in order to optimize their performance.”

Redman knows the high-pressure Olympic environment intimately. She describes the event as “Superbowl and Mardi Gras and March Madness and your birthday and Halloween all at the same time. All of the world’s eyes are on you, and it’s an incredible cap to a long and difficult athletic journey.” The USOC typically employs one or two former or current athletes to serve a supporting role at the games. Redman applied for the coordinator position last winter and went through multiple conference call interviews over two months.

She was ultimately elected by the Athlete Advisory Committee, which comprises all the representatives for each Olympic sports team. She went on a site visit to Rio in February to visit all the venues and speak to the heads of transportation and security and nutrition.

Since retiring from competition, Redman has

become a physical therapist, currently working at U-District Physical Therapy in Spokane, and she now has a health care perspective. “The Team USA Paralympians are held up as inspiration for everyone. Anyone who’s ever sprained an ankle can be inspired by what these athletes are doing. I know what it takes for a citizen to recover from an injury, but to see what these Paralympians have done is beyond amazing, and I’m excited to work with them. They’re incredible athletes in their own right, but now they’ve overcome injuries or birth defects.”

There will be between 200 and 300 athletes on the U.S. Paralympic team, including several from the Inland Northwest: Austin Pruitt (Track, 100M and 800M), a graduate from Central Valley High School; Susannah Scaroni (Track, 800M and marathon), a graduate from Tekoa High School; Rachel Morrison (Field, discus and club), a Spokanite for two years; Josh Brewer (Rugby), who grew up in Spokane playing wheelchair basketball; and Chelsea McClammer (Track, 400M, 800M, 1,500M, 5,000M, and marathon), a graduate from Richland High School.

Redman acknowledges the mixed publicity that Brazil has received. “People ask me if I’m worried about recent events: terrorism, the Zika virus, water quality. But the USOC doesn’t just have a Plan B. They have a Plan C, D, E, and F. Any potential scenario you can think of, they’ve already thought of it and have come up with contingency plans. If everything goes well,” she says, “I’ll just be there to make sure the athletes don’t get bored!” To learn more about the U.S. Paralympic team, visit www. teamusa.org/US-Paralympics. (Janelle McCabe)

Free the Snake Flotilla and River Recreation Day

Last year 200 boats with more than 350 people launched on the lower Snake River in a celebration and call to action in support of removing four dams that threaten wild salmon and prevent local communities from realizing the economic benefits of a free-flowing river. This year, even more paddlers and boaters, river advocates, anglers, and outfitters are expected to hit the water in Clarkston, Wash., on Saturday, September 17 for the second annual event. The flotilla of kayaks, drift boats, motor boats and canoes will launch from Swallows Park in Clarkston and travel to the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers for an on-the-water rally. After returning to Swallows, paddlers can join in a celebration at Chief Timothy Park 6 miles downstream, with food, music, speakers and camping. The event hopes to draw attention to a scathing rebuke of the federal government’s failure to protect wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers issued by a federal judge earlier this year.

Judge Simon ordered the federal agencies to go back to the drawing board and look at all alternatives, including removal of the four lower Snake River dams, noting that dam removal was likely

the most ecologically sound and cost-effective option for restoring wild salmon and steelhead.

In recent years, climate change and droughts have caused lethal water temperatures behind the dams killing thousands of wild salmon trying to migrate from the ocean to their home rivers. Last year 99 percent of Idaho’s sockeye died before they passed Lower Granite dam, the last impediment.

This year, the prediction is 35 percent of the run will be lost. Removing four dams, many fisheries scientists say, is the best bet for these strong fish to thrive with access to the thousands of miles of pristine habitat in Idaho, northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. The successful dam removals on the Elwha, White Salmon and Sandy Rivers have shown that when dams come down, stunning ecological recovery occurs along with better economic and recreation benefits. Local sponsors of the “Free the Snake” event include Save Our Wild Salmon, Spokane Falls Trout Unlimited, Mountain Gear, Roast House Coffee and many other groups and businesses More info at Freesnake.com or contact Same Mace at Sam@wildsalmon.org.

(Wil Wheaton)

Endurance Athletes Complete Mount Rainier Infinity Loop

Ras Vaughan and Gavin Woody just wrote a

new chapter in the Northwest book of ultra endurance challenges. Most people are content to climb Mount Rainer OR follow the Wonderland Trail around the mountain, but Vaughan and Woody decided to combine the trip and raise money while they did it.

Legendary climber Chad Kellogg initially dreamed up the project, but was never able to attempt it due to his untimely passing in a climbing accident in 2014. In a nutshell, the plan was to traverse the summit, run the Wonderland Trail back to the starting point in one direction, traverse the summit again, and then run the Wonderland the opposite direction back to the starting point, thus tracing a figure eight, or an infinity sign. The team started Saturday, July 23, and finished 99 hours and 7 minutes later. Each of the two loops were selfsupported, which means they carried all of their

own gear, food, and trash from beginning to end, and only took water from natural sources.

They didn’t pinpoint their mileage or elevation because, quite frankly, most tracking devices run out of power after a couple days of constant motion; however, Woody suggested it was “something like 120 miles and 40,000 feet of [elevation] gain.”

On his Facebook page, Vaughan wrote, “…our goal was to complete it in a fashion that would honor and propagate the inspiration we took from Chad’s life and adventures, and I feel we did that to the best of our abilities. May the circle of inspiration spiral ever onward into the endlessly amazing possibilities of future generations of adventurers.”

Vaughan and Woody dedicated their climb to The Mountaineers Youth Programs to help get more kids outside. If you would like to contribute, there’s still time. Mountaineers-2691.wedid.it/502. (Jon Jonckers)

Spokefest Moves to Kendall Yards Spokane’s signature bicycling event, SpokeFest, is holding its ninth annual familyfriendly community celebration of cycling this year. The fun begins on Sunday morning, September 11. Anyone who has a bike and a helmet can and should be part of this festival of chain ring tattoos — both the grease mark and the ink kind. In past years, up to 2,000 people of all ages and abilities have turned out to enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle. There are three routes to choose from: 9, 21, and 50 miles. Construction at Riverfront Park and on Pettet Drive is forcing a change in the routes. Bill Bender, Spokefest founder and president, is pleased that Kendall Yards is hosting the start and finish. Riders will bypass

Pettet and go up TJ Meenach Drive to Northwest Boulevard and then onto Belt. Unfortunately, the venue change means there will not be a 1-mile children’s ride.

What is SpokeFest celebrating? Well, you’re never too old to start riding a bike and you’re always too young to stop. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a roadie, a hand-powered bike, a commuter, a tandem, a fattie, a recumbent, a mountain bike, or a cruiser. It doesn’t matter if you have one, two, or three wheels. Come on out and listen to the wind whistle past your ears with a big smile on your face.

Registration and ride information is at www.spokefest.org. (Hank Greer)

2016

Choose one of five scenic elevation routes. Riders start in Liberty Lake and cycle through Eastern Washington & Northern Idaho. Sign-up today.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: SEPT. 15

Newport Autumn Bloom 5 or 10K to Benefit Rural Kids The 9th annual Newport Autumn Bloom 5k/10k is set for September 17 in Newport, Wash.

Runners from all over the Northwest will compete in this event that benefits the Newport Hospital & Health Services Foundation. This premier racing event’s 10K division is also a second seed qualifier for Bloomsday 2017. This year’s event benefits the Healthy Kids Snack Bag program and the Reach Out and Read program. The Healthy Kids Snack Bags program gives back to the community by providing weekly snack bags to local elementary school children in Newport, Cusick, Priest River,

and Oldtown. Reach Out and Read provides literacy education and new books for children (birth to age 5) when they receive their annual well-child checkups at Family Medicine Newport and Family Health Center Newport. Registration options for adults and youth runners are available (costs range from $15-$25). Same day registration begins at 7:30 a.m., and runners take their marks at 9 a.m. in TJ Kelly Park in Newport. More info at www.NewportHospitalAndHealth.org or call 509-447-7928. (OTM)

A RIDE FOR EVERY AGE AND ABILITY! 5MI | 15MI | 25MI | 50MI | 100MI

Spokane River Clean-Up Set for September 17 Each year, hundreds of volunteers spend a

Saturday morning picking up garbage and recyclable materials from popular public lands along the Spokane River. In 2015, volunteers removed about 4 tons of debris from High Bridge Park all the way to the University District. Whether you float or paddle the river or hike, bike or run along the trails and streets on the shoreline, the Spokane River Clean-Up is a great chance to give back to the river and honor the great recreational opportunities the Spokane River corridor provides all

year long. The Spokane River Clean-Up is made possible by the service of about 100 volunteers who go the extra mile to make the clean-up effective, efficient, safe, and fun. If you would like to play a leadership role in this year’s Spokane River Clean-Up, please contact Danny Murphy at riversidestatepark1@gmail.com or Lindsay Box at lbox@landscouncil.org or 509-209-2851. For more information or to register for the Spokane River Clean-Up, visit Spokanerivercleanup.org.

(OTM)

5 MILE FAMILY RIDE

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HikeOfTheMonth

Canfield gulch

Antoine Peak Conservation Area // By Holly Weiler

Never play above or below a dam.

When boating or swimming this summer, please remember to play it safe. Call or visit avistautilities.com/waterflow ahead of time to learn about Spokane river flows and water levels on Lake Coeur d’Alene and Lake Spokane.

Washington: 509-495-8043, or Idaho: 208-769-1357.

We just want you to be safe.

avistautilities.com/waterflow

Gardner Cave near the Canadian border makes for a cool summertime “hike.” // Photos: Holly Weiler

Liberty Lake sparkles in the distance from an Antoine Peak vantage point. Photo: Holly Weiler

Big changes are taking place at Antoine Peak Conservation Area. Purchased in three phases that were completed in 2011, Antoine has long boasted a sizable trail system on its 1,076 acres. However, that trail system has always consisted of former logging roads, some of which were incredibly steep and heavily eroded. Spokane County Parks completed a trail plan for Antoine more than a year ago, and that plan has allowed for some of the steepest sections to begin to be rerouted. Since two portions of this trail didn’t exist until this spring, Canfield Gulch can be considered one of Spokane’s newest trail additions.

To get there, use the east trailhead on Lincoln Road in Otis Orchards. The west trailhead is undergoing major changes, too, including a brand new parking lot, so save that hike for a different day (see the November 2014 Hike of the Month for a description). From the Lincoln Road parking lot, take the main trail to the Conservation Area kiosk and bear left. The trail starts by climbing an old road segment, but at the top of the first hill the new single track contours along the hillside. The scar of the old fall-line trail will remain visible for the near future, and it is easy to compare the old to the new and appreciate the difference.

What was once a lung-searing, calf-burning climb up an eroded scar is now contouring single track with fantastic views of the Spokane Valley to the south, Idaho to the east, and Mount Spokane to the north.

Just shy of the 1-mile mark, the single track rejoins one of the existing roadbeds to continue the climb toward the top. It intersects the Round-the-Mountain trail, another option for extending this hike, but the direct route currently leads straight up. This section will eventually be rerouted, but in the meantime, it’s a tough climb of approximately a quarter mile to get back to the new single track. The final segment was not completed until late July, so this is brand new trail for exploring! The reward at the top is one of the best views of the Spokane Valley and Otis Orchards. Look for Liberty Lake tucked into the hillside across the valley. Then retrace your steps to return to the trailhead. Round-trip distance: 4.8 miles and 1,323 feet elevation gain. Multi-use trail open to hikers, bikes, and equestrians. Dogs must remain on leash at all times.

Holly Weiler is an avid trail runner, backpacker, and hiker. She is the race director for the Foothills Scenic Five fun run every June that supports a scholarship fund and community events.

GETTING THERE:: Take Trent Avenue east, continuing beneath the overpass near Otis Orchards.

Turn north on Campbell Road. Continue 1.6 miles, then bear west on Lincoln Road. The parking lot is signed on the south side of the road in approximately a half mile. //

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Biking

Five Epic Road Rides in NE Washington // By Dave McGrane

Plenty to smile about on a Colville-area road ride. // Photo courtesy of Dave McGrane

Northeast Washington, with Colville at its

epicenter, is being discovered as a world-class road-biking destination. Spectacular mountain panoramas, bucolic valley landscapes, and miles of stunning lakeside vistas provide the backdrop for an endless variety of road cycling loops and challenging mountain climbs. Within 40 miles of Colville is a web of more than 650 miles of paved, lightly traveled rural roads. More than 150 miles of unparalleled cycling extends along the shoreline of the Columbia River and the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. The region’s natural confluence of rivers, valleys, and mountain ranges made the Colville-Kettle Falls area a rendezvous point for Indian tribes, mountain men, fur traders, military forts, and settlers for generations.

Today, cyclists find this scenic region particularly amenable to road cycling. You can get a glimpse of what the area has to offer at the Blazing Saddles Bike Ride sponsored by the Colville Rotary Club on September 17, 2016. While there are numerous loops and routes to explore, here are five rides to get you pedaling in the region.

the Gold Creek Loop just west of town. Explore the roads in “the basin” on the east flank of the Huckleberry Range southwest of town. Ride 15 miles or 50 miles; the ride possibilities are endless.

Gifford-Inchelium Ferry Loop: Start this 60-mile loop from Kettle

Falls by heading south on Highway 25 overlooking the Columbia River on your right. Take the free ferry across Lake Roosevelt that leaves every half hour. Head north along the lake to the Kettle Falls bridge, soaking up the beauty along the way.

Take advantage of National Park Service facilities along the entire loop. Increase the challenge and extend the loop to 75 miles by starting this ride in Colville and climbing over the Orin-Rice summit and then dropping down to the river.

metric century of the Blazing Saddles Bike ride heads around Colville Mountain, past Douglas Falls, and climbs up “six pack hill” to Onion Creek before heading down to the Columbia River and then back to Kettle Falls and Colville.

Flat Creek Loop: Adventure cycling companies bring “guests” in from all over the world to ride this route. From Kettle Falls, head west on Highway 395 across the bridge and then north along the river. Take the first right turn onto sparsely traveled Northport-Flat Creek Road and solitarily ride through world-class scenery. When you hit Highway 25, head to Northport and then back to Kettle Falls along the east side of the river to complete the 68-mile river loop. This loop is incorporated into the Blazing Saddles 100-mile ride starting in Colville.

Colville Loop: Introduce yourself to the area on

Huckleberry

Onion Creek Loop: Starting from Colville, the

the Colville Loop, a 35-mile loop around the city of Colville. Think “beltway” without any traffic.

The quickest way to the loop is to take Oakshott 1 mile west out of Colville; however, you can access the loop on any road leaving town. The full loop is easily navigated by the following roads: Valley Westside, Spanish Prairie, Williams Lake, Douglas Falls, Knapp, Highway 20, Artman-Gibson, Arden Hill, and Skidmore. The roads are valley grade with rollers and some climbs. Pastoral views of ranches, meadows, and mountains dominate the entire loop. At no point on the loop are you more than 6 miles from downtown Colville, but from the scenery you would never know it. If the weather turns bad, cut your ride short and take a road back into town for a comfortable shorter loop. If you want more, extend the ride by taking KittNarcisse east, or challenge yourself on “the burn,”

Climb Challenges: The Huckleberry Mountains lie between the Columbia River and the Colville River Valley. They offer four challenging “over the top” summit climbs: OrinRice, Addy-Gifford, Addy-Cedonia, and HuntersSpringdale. Want an epic challenge? Try all four climbs on the same day. Ride from Springdale to Hunters for the first climb, then Cedonia-Addy for the second. Head back over on Addy-Gifford for the third. Finally, head north to Rice and back east over Orin-Rice for the fourth climb. Coast down and get picked up in Colville (88 miles) or limp back to Springdale, having ridden 116 miles and climbed 7,700 feet. For those less motivated, any of these challenging climbs can be woven into multiple loop rides.

For more northeast Washington road biking route ideas and info, visit Colvelo.org. // SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

11

2016 Newport Autumn Bloom Everyday Cyclist 5K & 10K Fun Run Biking Your Way to Pokémon GO Domination // By Erika Prins Simonds

Newport Hospital & Health Services Foundation

10 K is a Second Seed Qualifier for Bloomsday 2017!

Tourism support for 2016 Autumn Bloom is provided by City of Newport Hotel/Motel Tax Funds.

September 17, 2016 T.J. Kelly Park 9AM l

(Corner of 1st St. and Washington Ave.)

Newport, WA

Register online at RaceRoster.com or download registration form at NewportHospitalAndHealth.org Pre-registration Deadline: 9/13/2016

Contact: Lori Stratton, Foundation Assistant (509) 447-7928 lori.stratton@nhhsqualitycare.org

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

Eli Swanson pauses while hunting Pokethings // photo: Erika Prins Simonds

On-site Registration: 7:30AM - 8:30AM Visit HighTechHighRec.com for area information!

Look into your phone screen, and the city around you transforms into a land of magical creatures. You, an elite trainer on one of three worldwide teams, capture these creatures and build a fighting force to help your team reach world domination one battle at a time, facing off with creatures you’ve never encountered at landmarks in your own town.

That’s the long version. The short version of Pokémon GO is that people go outside to play video games now and it’s awesome. It’s a big scavenger hunt: Trainers gather supplies from hidden murals, forgotten plaques, and historic locations throughout their city. The game measures distance traveled using GPS (not steps, like a fitness app).

With distance walked, you can hatch eggs, adding rare creatures — and sometimes really lame ones — to your collection. But there’s a catch: Distances won’t count if they’re traveled too fast. Driving definitely won’t cut it, but biking at a leisurely pace can give you a serious edge over pedestrian players.

Let’s first get this out of the way: Netizens across the globe have pointed out that some people who play Pokémon GO aren’t aware of their surroundings at all times. Shuffling along with noses in their phones, many Pokémon GO players resemble zombies. More likely, they’re teenagers leaving their basement rooms for the first time ever. Due to lack of socialization, the zombieteens generally don’t know how to navigate public walkways without endangering themselves and others — but it’s still really good for them to get some vitamin D in their systems and meet other zombies.

Trying to catch Pokémon while cycling involves doing something on your phone while riding, so it’s not to be taken lightly. Still, players everywhere have dusted off their Huffys to get ahead in the game — and it is possible to safely play on a bike.

To do this, it’s critical to mount your phone on your handlebars. Ideally, the app’s “vibrate” setting can be felt through your handlebars so you don’t need to look at your phone. If not, crank up the volume,

put one earbud in (only one, so you can hear what’s going on around you with the other ear).

Stick to side roads or head to Riverfront Park, Spokane’s Pokémon hub. I met 26-year-old construction worker Eli Swanson while he was rolling along the “bikes only” lane in the park with his phone mounted on his handlebars. At the time, he was an impressive level 29 trainer — though I’m sure he’s far surpassed that by now — and said he’d once spent nine hours hunting Pokémon in the park. The gyms (battlegrounds) and pokéstops (supply spots) sprawl across the park, so walking between them in time to catch the action can prove difficult and exhausting. Swanson mainly rides his bike to get between pokéstops, which will dispense supplies anew every five minutes, though he’ll pull over to catch a Pokémon on occasion.

When you encounter a critter, there’s no need to screech to a halt and cause an accident; they stay visible for quite a distance. Turning off the Augmented Reality (AR) setting makes them easier to catch from a distance. It takes several seconds for the critters to appear on your screen, though, so catching them all is still best done on foot or riding at a walking pace.

If you’ve made up your mind that Pokémon GO is the worst thing ever to happen to society, try viewing it as an opportunity to introduce the younger generation (and sedentary adult nerds) to the joys of active living. The wisdom bestowed upon us by Ice-T does not apply here: In this case, it’s the player, not the game, that’s the problem.

Pokémon GO can be played just as effectively with full situational awareness. In fact, the social engagement — throngs of players gathering at parks and hidden monuments, breathlessly alerting strangers to the location of a rare creature — is what makes the game so much fun. // Erika Prins Simonds bicycles as her primary mode of transportation. You can find more of her writing at erikaprins.com.

UrbanOutdoors The Best city park you’ve never heard of Drumheller Springs // By Nick Thomas

Two Bucks enjoy vernal pools. // Photo: Nick Thomas

Perhaps, like me, you’ve caught brief glimpses

of a mysterious, wooded slope as you cruise up and down Ash Street north of downtown Spokane.

I’ve long assumed it was just someone’s yard. In fact, that’s Drumheller Springs. There, trails wind through 12 acres of dry scabland and lush pockets of trees and plants where vernal pools appear through basalt bedrock. A meandering gravel trail suggests mountain biking, but Drumheller tends to invite a more relaxed, slower pace of recreating.

Its rocky expanse is better suited to early morning jogs or evening strolls than high-speed pursuits.

On a recent weekday I spoke with Nick Wright, the only other person I encountered that day at Drumheller. A short, wiry man with intense eyes and a sincere smile, Wright was topping off a plastic water bottle from an easy-to-overlook pipe emerging below the upper meadow, at the foot of the new-

looking staircase. “It’s cleaner than the Vatican,” he said. “This water is powerful.” Wright came from the tiny town of Malott, Washington, in Okanogan County to connect with nature and bathe in the ancient rivulet at Drumheller Park. He says the springs restore his body and spirit and relieve the damaged tendons and joint pain he’s incurred through years of manual labor. He started coming here five years ago whenever he needed to “reconnect to spirit.” Healing powers aside, Wright’s not the only one with a deep connection to the springs.

Barry Moses, a Spokane Indian, has been trying to restore Drumheller to the way area tribes knew it for millennia. “My great aunt would camp here during the three-day trip from Wellpinit,” he says. His efforts began in earnest in 2011 when a well-intentioned tree-planting effort endangered one of the last urban sources of native food-plants like brown

camas, Indian carrots, and bitterroot. Ponderosa pines, while indigenous and plentiful in Spokane, acidified soil and blocked sunlight. “There were never Ponderosas at Drumheller,” Moses said, citing tribal records. “It was always open.” He convinced members of The Lands Council to let him show them what he meant. “It was spring, so it was easy to see where the new planting was already affecting the native plants.” As the group encountered each native food plant, Moses served up traditional meals he’d prepared and packed in containers the night before, all made from the same plants. The tactic worked. The Lands Council members agreed to replant the saplings elsewhere, and the ordeal led to a Memorandum of Understanding with the Spokane Parks Board and the Lands Council. The Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) became the primary caretakers of the park.

Carole Parks is a science instructor at Spokane Community College. She studied Drumheller extensively for her zoology master’s thesis. Her research shows that native wildlife at Drumheller is declining, especially in springtime when the vernal pools dry up. Pacific tree frogs, water fowl, and deer

still live here, but the long-toed salamanders that neighbors reported catching in decades past have all but disappeared. “I never saw a single one,” she said. When the pools dry, amphibians are driven into the yards of the surrounding neighborhoods where they must contend with urban threats such as pets, people, lawnmowers, vehicles, and exposure to pesticides and fertilizers.

Yet in other ways it’s better than it used to be.

Abandoned vehicles used to litter the grounds until the mid-90s when Mary Porter and her Rogers High School students removed tons of garbage, and the city ringed the park in boulders to keep cars out.

It’s hard to imagine Drumheller as anything other than pristine. I sat by a sprawling willow and tried to visualize it. Then a movement caught my eye — two deer, young bucks with velvety antlers. They eyed me warily, munching leaves as they moved along in near silence. Beyond the park boundary is a newly acquired buffer zone, an extra layer of real estate where a house once stood, and Drumheller seems a little bit safer, at least in my imagination.

All around, a city rushes by, oblivious, like a river parting around a grand, old tree.//

// DRUMHELLER SPRINGS QUICK FACTS // • • • • • •

Size: 12 acres Number of distinct plants: 175 1870: Chief Spokan Garry operates a long house and school for Native Americans at Drumheller.

1880: The park’s namesake, Daniel Drumheller, operates a pig farm on the property.

1968: Eastern Washington Historical Society purchases the property.

Historical names: Stiuwa’tłxw; Lone Pine Springs; Garry Spring; Spring Hill.

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Kids

OWL Program Invites West Central Kids Outdoors // amy silbernagel mccaffree OWL Participants with Ben Baird at Riverside State Park. // Photo courtesy of Eileen McRae.

More local children are experiencing the

great outdoors thanks to Ben Baird, coordinator of the Outdoor & Wilderness Learning (OWL) program for Spokane’s West Central Community Center. “From the beginning I realized the kids coming to the community center had limited access to Riverside State Park [even though it’s close by]. A lot of the kids didn’t even know the

park existed and had never been on a hike or been camping or fishing. I wanted to give these kids an opportunity to experience the park so that they may cultivate a love for it and develop familiarity with it, enabling them to enjoy the outdoors for a lifetime,” he says.

Baird’s work with local youth was also inspired by the book “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard

Louv. “In the book, Louv coins the term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ in which he explores the issue of today’s youth spending an average of seven hours per day playing video games and lacking outside time. He explains that unstructured outdoor exploration time greatly reduces incidences of ADHD and improves scholastic achievement and overall behavior while developing self-confidence,” says Baird.

This past spring the OWL program received a No Child Left Inside grant, about $55,000, from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office and Washington State Parks, in addition to $60,000 in matching funds and services from the West Central Community Center, Riverside State Park Foundation, and other organizations, volunteers, and donors, according to Baird. These funds helped expand the OWL’s programming to 52 weeks to help more youth ages 5-18 learn about and experience hiking, fishing, geocaching, wildlife and wildland rehabilitation projects, survival skills, orienteering, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, outdoor ethics, agriculture, geology, and general environmental education. In addition, there is now a “gear library” to loan gear to children, thereby removing barriers to getting them outside, Baird says. Local teachers can also use the program’s resources, such as guided field trips.

Baird has witnessed tremendous results from the OWL programming, such as an 8-year-old boy who overcame behavioral issues associated with his ADHD diagnosis. “Through our outings he has been able to focus his energy on the natural

environment around him and has shown a passion for the natural world and natural sciences. I have noticed an improvement in his ability to maintain focus, not only on outdoor outings but in our general youth program activities as well,” Baird says.

In August, the OWL’s five-day wilderness camp took place within Riverside State Park and Crawford State Park’s Gardner Caves, and included activities such as orienteering, fishing, hiking, and learning Leave No Trace ethics. In the years ahead, Baird wants the OWL program to “give as many kids as possible a life-changing outdoor experience,” he says. “Our pipe dream is to operate out of a larger designated space – an outdoor education facility that would operate as a base camp for all outdoor activities. It would also be equipped with various hands-on learning experiences, such as biology or local geology exhibits, where children and families can discover the natural world through self-guided exploration and facilitated presentations and workshops.”

OWL’s fall calendar of events is available at westcentralcc.org/owl, and program updates are posted on their Facebook page. Volunteers are always welcome, Baird says, and a t-shirt sale fundraiser to support the OWL scholarship program takes place September 19-30 through www.booster.com. // Amy Silbernagel McCaffree enjoys sharing stories that inspire people to be more active and adventurous. She wrote about local long-distance hikers in August.

S AT U R D AY SEPT. 24TH

SPOKANE

Half Marathon, 10K & 5K Runs

G re at p ost-ra ce festivities & fa bulous g oody ba g s | R eg ister a t WW W . HAP P Y G I RL S RUN. C OM

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

Biking Explore Coeur d’Alene’s Bike Scene with Others // By S. Michal Bennett Lake City Flyers and Tuesday Night Cruisers at Java on Sherman. // Photo: John Kelly

You know that bike that is sitting in your

garage with one low tire and a layer of dust on the seat? You should be riding it! I’m not saying you have to ditch your car and commute on two wheels every day. I’m not even implying that you need more exercise. I’m just talking about riding, for the enjoyment of pedaling, and to connect with some fantastic people.

Coeur d’Alene is a fairly healthy and active community. With two Ironman triathlons, the scenic North Idaho Centennial Trail, Silver Mountain’s extensive bike park, and a wealth of races and rides, there are plenty of opportunities to get out and pedal. For many of us who don’t compete in races or ride regularly, knowing where and how to start may be intimidating. And who enjoys riding alone all of the time? Community bike rides are a great place to get comfortable with your bike and meet people in the Lake City and surrounding areas.

Road Rides

Group road rides can range from “spirited” to “nodrop” and they’re typically monitored and hosted by long-time riders or trainers from local bike shops. Competitive rides are good for those training for a road race or looking to build endurance and skill. No-drop rides are designed to include all skill levels and promise to leave no rider behind, although road bikes are highly encouraged. These are perfect if you want to pedal with other riders and discover favorable routes around the area.

Here are a few to choose from: • Saturday Morning Worlds at 8 a.m., hosted by Vertical Earth: Meet in the shop’s back parking lot.

A challenging, established road ride at a spirited, competitive pace.

• Tuesday Night No-Drop Road Rides at 5:30 p.m., hosted by Coeur d’Alene Bike Co.: Meet at the shop. Any level of rider can participate in the ride.

No rider is left behind. Be prepared for beautiful scenery, friendly people, and good beer.

Mountain Bike Rides

Trail riding requires owning – or borrowing – a mountain bike and helmet. They aren’t for the timid, but they can be awfully fun. Although there are good trails on Coeur d’Alene Mountain, the most popular trails in the area are on Canfield Mountain. They offer a wide range of difficulty and are easily accessible from town, and groups from all the bike shops in Coeur d’Alene take to the trails every week.

• Monday Night Group Trail Ride at 6:30 p.m., hosted by Two Wheeler Dealer: Meet at Nettleton Gulch parking lot. Relaxed pace.

• Tuesday Night Rides at 6 p.m., hosted by Vertical Earth with Bicycle Sales & Service: Meet at the shop or at Nettleton Gulch parking lot at 6:30

p.m. Competitive pace.

• Wednesday Night Bikes, Brews, and Burgers at 6 p.m., hosted by Coeur d’Alene Bike Co.: Meet at Nettleton Gulch parking lot. Relaxed pace.

Followed by burgers and discounted pints at Slate Creek Brewing.

• Thursday Night Rides at 6 p.m., hosted by Vertical Earth with Bicycle Sales & Service: Meet at the Nettleton Gulch parking lot at 6:30 p.m.

Relaxed pace.

Just for the Love of It Rides

Some of us just aren’t into skidding down inclines or drafting a fellow road rider. We have cruisers or single speeds and like to hold conversations about the weather and crazy drivers while meandering down the street. There are rides for you – I mean us – too.

• Lake City Flyers, “ride every so often” or monthly: Rides posted on Facebook page, often stop at breweries, ice cream shops, or other highly enjoyable food and drink establishments.

• CDA Cruiser Ride, monthly rides: Rides posted on Facebook page, all bikes welcome, often stop at breweries, ice cream shops, or other highly enjoyable food and drink establishments.

• Lake City Lunar Landers, monthly night rides every full moon: Rides posted on Facebook page, all bikes welcome, often stop at breweries and bars.

• Socially Geared Coeur d’Alene Cycle Pub: No bike needed, perfect for pub crawling or a scenic bike tour, reservations required. Sociallygearedcda. com Cycling Connects Communities

Regardless of your cycling preference, cycling connects communities. “Seeing more people riding motivates people,” says Alex Castagno from Coeur d’Alene Bike Co. “You see these groups of people and wonder, who are they, what are they doing, what’s the deal? It’s great to see cycling ramping up in the last few years in Coeur d’Alene.”

Jamie Lynn Morgan, who coordinates Lake City Flyers with her husband Tom, has her own take on group rides. “Bicycle riding helps connect people with their neighborhoods including the businesses within them. It gives people an opportunity to explore at a slower pace without the burden of having to find parking. We’re extremely fortunate to live in place that has so much to offer, and when we get out of our cars and onto our bikes, we can experience it in a whole new way.”

S. Michal Bennett is a freelance writer, poet, and blogger based in Coeur d’Alene. She wrote about U-pick farms in August. Read more of Michal’s writing at www.shortandtasty.blogspot.com.

SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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F a ll T r a v el

the Perfect Time for a Selkirk Loop Road Trip

By Aaron Theisen

THE CAPRA VENTURE EXCLUSIVELY AT MERRELL .COM AND THESE PARTICIPATING RETAILERS

Kootenay Lake along the Selkirk Loop route is a world-class destination in its own right. Circle: There are plenty of trails along the loop to stretch your legs and enjoy fall colors. // Photos: Aaron Theisen

I arrived at the trailhead to St. Leon Hot

Springs, in British Columbia’s Arrow Lakes Valley – unsigned and accessed by a rough logging road, like many such Canadian destinations – just as a local painter and her guests were leaving. Soliciting suggestions for camping nearby, I ruled out their previous night’s accommodations, wherein they simply dozed in the hot springs all night. “Why don’t you camp in my yard?” offered the painter. So that night, on the wide, slow-moving banks of the Slocan River, I dined on vegan cuisine and wine with a painter, her dog, a couple who were road-tripping from Toronto to Seattle, and a guy living in a van on the property.

It was the kind of real, memorable experience that you can only have in friendly, off-the-beaten path places. The kind of places that make up much of the route along the Selkirk Loop.

The continent’s only international scenic byway, the Selkirk International Scenic Loop winds 280 miles through Washington, Idaho and southern British Columbia. From Sandpoint, the Selkirk Loop passes through the Kootenai River Valley, its broad, fertile farmland flanked by the Idaho Selkirks to the west and the Purcells to the east.

North of the international border, the route traces the upturned-boot shape of the east shore of Kootenay Lake, crossing the lake on the world’s longest free ferry before proceeding to the artsy, outdoorsy community of Nelson. From there, a quiet highway winds south through the Salmo River valley and across the border to Metaline Falls, paralleling the north-flowing Pend Oreille River among lily pad-bedecked ponds and the pinedotted foothills of exposed rock that comprise the southernmost Selkirks back into Idaho. Six side trips add another 450 miles of pavement.

The fjord-like lakes and fog-enshrouded peaks comprising the Selkirk Loop, more than other plac-

es, have been shaped by ancient but restive geological forces: some of the continent’s oldest rock; deep, glacierand flood-gouged lakes; vast veins of ore; hidden geothermal hot springs.

The dramatic landscape belies a lightly traveled, well-paved road system that attracts road-trippers from around the world. Wildlife-watchers can scout for bighorn sheep, mountain goats and birds, and history buffs can tour the many interpretive sites showcasing the region’s pioneer history. All will admire the sky-scraping Selkirks mirrored in the myriad lakes and rivers on the loop. Travelers can enjoy the Selkirk Loop year-round, but autumn boasts particular delights, with the golden glow of western larch providing one of the Northwest’s best fall flora shows.

And the same landscape that inspires visitors inspires artisans in funky communities from Boswell to Winlaw; Nelson is ranked the number-one small arts town in Canada, and signs for ceramists’ and seamstress’ studios line the loop.

Tourists should consider saving trunk space for artwork that they might find on the loop. Crawford Bay, on the east shore of Kootenay Lake, in particular, is famed for its handmade wooden brooms.

There’s an open-air mysticism here, a mix of hardcore mountain-living and hippie, that’s represented in events from Renaissance faires to rave-music festivals; travelers should check an event calendar to catch Selkirks culture at its peak.

The International Selkirk Loop website has sample itineraries that break the loop into logical, manageable chunks. But there’s an appeal to an open-ended itinerary, the vast landscape of

the Selkirks ideally suited to the languid pace of vacation. And the intersection of mountain and river, dramatic and serene, makes for a mix of activities, from relaxed – a sunrise stand-up paddleboarding session on Kootenay Lake, plentiful berry-picking in the Salmo River valley – to more hardcore, with some of the world’s most-intense mountain biking and backcountry skiing deep in the forests and steep pinnacles of the mountains, particularly on the Canadian side.

Tent campers will find some of the finest publiclands camping in the region among the numerous provincial parks and national forest campgrounds, including Kokanee Creek Provincial Park east of Nelson, Crawford Bay Provincial Park on Kootenay Lake, and Sullivan Lake near Metaline Falls.

Travelers who prefer plusher accommodations can find lodging listings on the Selkirk Loop website. Sandpoint and Nelson, British Columbia, the largest communities on the Loop, both have plentiful accommodations and clean, quiet and safe campgrounds. Both towns are suggested overnight stops for all travelers. A bohemian enclave in the Kootenays, Nelson has a lively nightlife scene and dining to accommodate every appetite, from vegan to carnivore. Here and in Sandpoint, tourists will find good coffee shops and all-important free wi-fi.

More importantly, both towns have thriving craftbeer scenes.

To plan a trip along the Selkirk Loop, which is most often completed as a vehicle road trip but is also gaining popularity among bicycle tourers, visit the International Selkirk Loop website at Selkirkloop.org. //

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SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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Camping, Trail Running, and Mountain Goating in B.C.

By Erika Prins Simonds

Broken mountain, Broken Goat. // Photos: Ryan Flett

If you’ve ever doubted that Canada is better at everything, consider this: In Canada, Sausage Egg McMuffins come with lettuce and tomatoes.

I discovered this early on a Saturday morning in Trail, British Columbia. Just an hour later, I’d be setting out on a 25K trek up and down the summits of Red Mountain Resort in the neighboring town of Rossland.

The Broken Goat Ultra comes in three increasingly insane varieties: 12K, 25K, and 50K. Before

we began, each runner’s mandatory pack was inspected for the required calories, hydration, outerwear, and map. Race Director Rene Unser sent us off with this message: we may find ourselves despairing at some point on the course, and at that time, we should think of a friend or family member who would give anything for the physical ability to be out there with us.

The majority of the 25K’s climbs were so steep that most of us opted for fast-paced hiking. The

equally steep downhills began as welcome relief but eventually became a new form of torture. About halfway through, as I bounced around on a downhill stretch between rocks embedded in the singletrack trail, I deliriously mused: “I feel like a little mountain goat!”

Then it dawned on me: “Ohhh. I am the goat.

The Broken Goat. Wait. Broken? What do they mean, broken?!” That part started to make sense later, when even my zippy downhill gait was reduced to a painful shuffle. It was then that I recalled Usner’s challenge: I thought of a friend whose chronic illness prevents him from being as active as he would like to be and dedicated my run to him.

The gorgeous vistas that cropped up every few miles far outweighed the pain. The aid station came a solid 2 miles past where we’d been told it would be — but when it finally appeared, it had peanut M&Ms and Coca-Cola. All was immediately forgiven.

Revived, I mustered some percentage of my former enthusiasm and pulled out a solid finish time

runners had the smarts to wear thick-soled shoes to guard their feet against sharp rocks. Some had hiking poles. I cursed my minimalist trail shoes more than a few times along the course. I didn’t miss the poles too much, though I did see a few other runners scraped up badly from having tripped over rocks and fallen.

I was sore in different places than I usually am after road races — my ankles were a disaster, my lower back took a serious beating on the downhills and my hips were exhausted from all the climbing — but the run was totally doable even without any special goat-inspired training.

My husband and I camped for the weekend at the Lions Community Campground, which boasts the distinction of being “Rossland’s Only Campground.” It was noisy into the early hours of the morning, but a good-quality campsite with warm showers and friendly service. We skipped the race festivities — burgers and beer for lunch, a catered dinner and the awards ceremony — to satisfy my Thai food craving at Mook Thai Cuisine and try five-pin bowling. Yes, even the bowling is better in Canada.

Registration for the July 15, 2017 Broken Goat will open on December 10, 2016, at PaceTrailSeries.com. //

Then it dawned on me: “Ohhh. I am the goat.” in the middle of the pack. I may have been the only 25K runner who doesn’t regularly engage in this particular form of masochism; I heard chatting in the Honeybucket line about the other trail ultras runners planned to compete in this summer and worried I was out of my depth. Most of the other

Erika Prins Simonds writes our Everyday Cyclist column. She also wrote about honeymoon camping for newbies in August. Find more of her writing at erikaprints.com.

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

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Fall in the flathead

By Katie LeBlanc

Say good-bye to summer tourists and embrace

a peaceful autumn in northwest Montana. PostLabor Day travel in the Flathead Valley area is an extension of summer, minus the crowds. Sport a bikini by day and a beanie by dusk; pack warm clothes as autumn evenings are refreshing after playing in the sun. Both luxury and budget explorers can expect the biggest bang for their buck as fall lodging prices drop and campsites open up.

Flathead Local Favorites

Camping

Pack a sleeping bag and a smile, and take your weekend to Flathead Valley for under $100 after travel. Public land acreage is abundant in Montana, lending opportunities for recreating and camping. More than 30 Forest Service campgrounds exist within the Flathead National Forest alone. Several Forest Service campgrounds are open through the end of September (and some later); check closure dates before travel. And if you’re backpacking, the sky is the limit.

Glacier National Park

Autumn in Glacier National Park is a treat, though you have to be prepared as West Glacier amenities close down at the end of September.

Count on only a few essentials to be open through October. Kick back at the charming, historic Belton Chalet Hotel Tap Room for post-hike fare and drinks. Live music fills the room here, exclusive to shoulder seasons. The Crown of the Continent Discovery Center’s one-stop shop is

use it. Check in with the local public land agencies for wildlife details.

Coming down from Mt. Aneas Peak. Circle: Poia Lake // Photos: katie LeBlanc

open through the end of October. There you can grab last-minute outdoor gear, local Montana libations at the bar, lunches to go, and Mexican food at La Casita restaurant.

Want to stay overnight in the park? Campsites drop reservation status after Labor Day and become first-come first -serve, making an overnight most achievable. Also check out the stunning hikes on the East side of the park. Stay at Two Medicine, Cut Bank or St. Mary campgrounds. Hiking, kayaking, and horseback trail rides are still available in the

park after Labor Day, and are great family-friendly activities.

Recreating in Bear Country

Though it is an amazing experience to see a bear, the risk of bear encounters may increase during autumn months as the animals actively prepare for winter. If you are recreating in bear country, you should be aware of your surroundings, do not go alone if possible, and be sure to talk and make noise. Don’t just carry bear spray; know how to

Whitefish: Mountain bike Spencer Mountain trails; hike or bike the Big Mountain; explore Whitefish Lake State Park; discover the Tuesday Farmers Market through September; enjoy the views from the Skybar at Casey’s; hear live music at the Great Northern Bar; fill your growler at Bonsai Brewing Project; taste pizza at Jersey Boy’s Pizzeria and sushi at Wasabi; save money at Kalispell grocery stores.

Kalispell: Bike the Great Northern Historic Trail; shoot archery at Lone Pine State Parks outdoor archery course; cool off in Foyes Lake; mountain bike and trail run Herron Park; race and revel at the Montana Dragon Boat Festival; test your knowledge on trivia night at Kalispell Brewing Company; taste strawberry lemonade at Desoto Grille; view the sunrise from the top at Herron Park.

Bigfork Area: Trail run Alpine Trail #7 in the Jewel Basin; fish alpine lakes in Jewel Basin; breakfast at Echo Lake Café; explore Flathead Lake State Parks; taste outdoor drinks at The Raven in Woods Bay. Columbia Falls: Hike Columbia Mountain; Fly fish the Flathead River; discover the Columbia Falls Community Market; float tube the Middle Fork Flathead River between West Glacier and Columbia Falls; eat and drink at Backslope Brewing. // Katie LeBlanc wrote about biking in Northwest Montana in the June issue.

SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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F a ll T r a v el

A Close Getaway to Lake Pend Oreille

By S. Michal Bennett

this trip, but made note of for winter.

The Drink

Paddling on the Pend Oreille can be at its best come fall. // Photos courtesy Sandpoint magazine

A short drive north from

Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, but far enough away to feel like you are actually on vacation, Sandpoint and the Pend Oreille area have everything during every season for the outdoor enthusiast, the casual recreationist, and the relaxed observer. My husband and I fall somewhere between the enthusiast and recreationist, and we like to get away for a day here and there to this lakeside playground.

For our wedding anniversary this year, we decided to take more than a day, seek out new adventures, and savor a few of our most beloved spots.

The Stay

Our first question was, where do we stay? Schweitzer Mountain was a bit out of the way, in-town seemed somewhat noisy for us quiet folk, and many of the lodges and cabins were out of our price range. We finally settled on Hotel Ruby in Ponderay, which was affordable and perfectly situated close to Schweitzer and Sandpoint and right off the biking and walking trail that runs along Highway 2. The newly remodeled hotel is simple and clean and has a ski warming and drying room alongside double hot tubs – amenities we didn’t take advantage of on

While we enjoy sipping Pend d’Oreille Winery’s award-winning wines and quaffing Laughing Dog’s Rocket Dog IPA, there’s one place in Sandpoint where you can find a wide selection of craft brews in one setting. Jon Hagadone and Vicki Reich opened the Idaho Pour Authority in May 2013 and have made this small taproom and bottle shop a solid local favorite. On this trip, we stopped by the shop three times to have a drink, pick up a couple bottles of hard-to-find beer, and snag some aged gouda and crackers for a late-night snack.

We also scored a restaurant recommendation from Reich for our anniversary dinner: Shoga Sushi Bar. The Food

Shoga Sushi, one of two eateries located inside The Lodge at Sandpoint, features “Asian-fusion cuisine.” Per Reich and Hagadone’s suggestion, we ordered in the style of “omakase,” which is a Japanese phrase that means “I’ll leave it up to you.”

We gave the chef free rein. From the tuna poke to the impeccable nigiri to the umami sushi rolls and wontons, each course was ambrosial. For dessert, we chose the Okinawan Andagis, delicately battered donuts served with caramel and berry sauces. Full and content, we sipped sake and viewed a vibrant sunset from our balcony table.

The Diversion

Early the second day, we headed out to paddle the Clark Fork Delta. Friends had spoken to us

about the beauty and intricacies of this 4-mile contiguous wetland where the Clark Fork River enters Lake Pend Oreille. The waters and shores of the delta have been the focus of a major restoration project since 2012 (visit www.clarkforkdelta.org for more information). We launched our inflatable paddleboards just off the main watercourse where the water was incredibly clear, the sky sunny, and the air balmy. A short paddle down the river, we took a shallow stream off the main course and into a series of glassy pools inhabited by lily pads, cattails, and a raccoon, which stared at the humans encroaching on its solitude. We paddled the stillness of these pools for a while, then cracked open our water bottles, nibbled on some snacks, and lay back on our boards reveling in the quiet, monotonous sounds flying and flowing around us. After a full day of paddling, we returned to Hotel Ruby, snacked on cheese and crackers, drank beer, and slept like river rocks.

The Recovery

Such outdoor delights pair well with a great cup of coffee, so our first stop the next morning was the café at Evans Brothers Coffee Roasters, which garnered third place in America’s Best Coffeehouse competition at Coffee Fest Portland 2015. Two steaming cups of pourover coffee in hand, we soaked in more sunshine before heading home satisfied. // S. Michal Bennett is a freelance writer based in Coeur d’Alene. She wrote about U-pick farms in August. Read more of Michal’s writing at www. shortandtasty.blogspot.com.

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Memories are made at the top. // Photo courtesy Ammi Midstokke

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THE MENU

their famished state, refer them to said lunch box.

Plan rad road stops. We put about 2,500 miles on our summer trip this year with a couple of long days. To make even those travel days seem like part of the adventure, we stop at neat places to stretch our legs, swim, paddle, or ride some nice section of trail. Sometimes we stop at historical and geological sites to stimulate our highway conversations. Lewis and Clark and the 45th parallel get a lot of coverage. And this last trip, the Donner Party, in a rather macabre drive over the pass. (That is a family that poorly planned their travel food, by the way. Don’t be like them.)

Do stuff your kids want to do. One summer, when my daughter was 3, we saw a couple who stopped to take pictures of covered bridges around the country. We decided to test and take pictures of all the playgrounds we passed. It was her favorite part of the trip, and she reveled in her responsibility of pointing out playgrounds. We had to bypass a few in south Los Angeles but made up for it in Oregon.

Bring varied entertainment. I don’t mean the DVD player. We don’t use electronics in the car until my ears are bleeding from Katy Perry, or sometimes when I need undisputed silence while I negotiate big-city traffic. We like books, the Rubik’s cube, coloring, dolls, trivia games, and good oldfashioned conversation. Road trips offer some of the best opportunity to get to know my 9- year-old’s stance on everything from politics to fashion. In real life, we rarely get an opportunity to talk about those things at length.

Remember the purpose. Taking trips and vacationing together isn’t about getting from point A to point B or marking up a map. It is about stepping outside of our usual routines and comforts, spending time with those dear to us, and having new experiences. Let go of the mission a little bit and embrace the journey. //

S EE

to read is that she has become acutely aware of the speed limit and my tendency to exceed it. I’m pretty sure if I got pulled over, she’d chirp, “I told her to slow down” from the back seat. Being a single parent and road tripping can sound about as fun as watching Ishtar on repeat while having your toenails slowly removed. Between driving all those miles while listening to current boy band bop music and trying to time your bladder breaks with those of your child’s, the desire to drop a shot of vodka in your gas station coffee is high.

(Note: Never, ever, ever do this. Wait until you are safely at your campground, your kid is asleep, and your fire is warm. Then maybe have a glass of fine Bordeaux and congratulate yourself on your good taste in wine and what a classy camper you are.)

For the duration of my child’s life, we have travelled and completed 99% of these journeys alone.

From 32-hour flights to India (hello Tylenol PM) to camping in grizzly country (bear spray is not to be used as a Cholula replacement), we’ve experimented with how to make the most out of our trips.

We’ve developed a few systems of misery mitigation and adventure instigation to make some of the most incredible memories and shared experiences we’ll ever brag about on Facebook. Here are a few to try on your next parent-kid adventure.

Bring food. While it is accepted as common knowledge that children need to eat, their ability to burn through calories in a long car drive is a phenomenon science has yet to explain. Typical signs of starvation appear at gas stations where corn dogs and Oreos are suggested as the only cure. Do not ever feed the children gas station food. Aside from dipping into your retirement fund to afford a small bag of vinegar potato chips, most of the food there only feeds blood sugar spikes and crashes -- two things you do not want to have in a car or on a boat, or with a fox in a box. You get the idea. Instead, pack a wicked lunch box of road-friendly goodies and beverages. Apples, boiled eggs, carrot sticks, peanut butter, nuts, salami. Every time (in approximately 14-second intervals) your child expresses

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RunWild Trail Running Nutrition // By Dave Dutro

Keep it in the pantry. // Photo Dave Dutro

SEPT. 24TH STARTING AT NOON 1909 E Sprague Ave 3rd Annual

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

What do you eat during a long trail run? I get asked this question quite often and it’s a pretty loaded question. What works for one runner’s digestion doesn’t always work for another’s. I’ve talked to some runners with an “iron gut” who stop at the Kwik-E-Mart on their way to a race for gas station donuts; then another runner will chime in with “losing” the slice of dry whole wheat toast they ate two or three hours ago during their long run. As most of us know, once you start getting sick during a long run or race, it’s difficult to eat anything else until your stomach settles down.

Runners are constantly bombarded with advice about every type of nutritional product. While my biggest piece of advice is to keep it simple stupid, here are some other considerations to think about before you spend a ton of money on nutritional products.

One of my favorite products is a little newer to the nutrition game: nut butter. Nut butters are produced by brands like Justin’s or Bogg’s Trail Butter.

They are around 200 calories in convenient little packages, have just a hint of sweetness, and taste better to me than gel products. Keep in mind though that they usually contain more fat and protein than a gel. Not all stomachs can handle that much fat during a race, so always try them out first during training runs.

Gels are a simple carbohydrate produced by many sports nutrition companies. Some brands contain protein, some brands contain the “perfect” fat-carb-protein ratio, and most gel products contain caffeine. Gels come in convenient packaging and are usually about 100-150 calories per serving.

They are convenient to carry, they work quickly, and they don’t seem to go bad. There are many fla-

vors and brands to choose from, and I advise you to read the ingredients carefully and try different brands during training runs. Products like chews are similar to gels for me. I like them, but I think of them as expensive gummy bears. They are usually good for about 100-150 calories per serving.

Another option for runners is nutrition bars. Most nutrition bars have too much fiber for a long run or race, but they could be used as a good breakfast a few hours prior. So far the only bar that I like is the Clif Kid Zbar. They are tasty and contain about 120 calories, while most nutrition bars marketed to adults range between 150 to 220 calories. Rounding out the nutrition products are energy foods – kind of like baby food marketed toward athletes.

I don’t dislike any of these nutritional options, but the more real the product, the better I like it.

Which brings me to my last item: real food. That’s right, some of the best sports nutrition out there is

Some of the best sports nutrition out there is in your own kitchen. in your own kitchen. Examples of this are homemade energy bars (Google this for some awesome recipes), peanut butter and date wraps, and Pringles; all it takes is some planning on your part.

Practice consuming 250 calories per hour for long runs or races longer than two hours. Stay away from high-fiber foods while you experiment with different types of food or pre-packaged nutrition to find what works for you. // Dave Dutro is an avid trail runner, mountain biker, hiker, and co-founder of the Trail Maniacs.

Read about Trail Maniacs events and activities at www.trailmaniacs.com.

THE FEW THE PROUD

Gear DIY Bike Gear // By Hank Greer

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The author’s DIY bike gear handiwork. // Photos: Hank Greer

PRESALE Every once in a while I explore making my

own bike gear. I once put together a headlight using a 12-volt halogen bulb, a lead-acid battery, a PVC end cap, and other bits and pieces. It served me well until I decided to pay for a quality light system. I also made my own studded tires for my 26-inch mountain bike. Those tires have held up well over the years and I still have them.

This time I took on the task of making a frame bag, a gas tank bag, and a porteur bag for my locally made Elephant National Forest Explorer bike. I was preparing to bikepack the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Loop and I needed bags to carry my gear. Buying bags would cost more than it would to make them. Plus, I wanted the bags to match the color scheme of the bike.

I scoured sites and found lots of tips and ideas, but my first challenge was relearning how to operate a sewing machine, which I hadn’t done since Nixon was in office. My wife let me use her older, heavier machine, which is what’s needed for this kind of work. She won it in 1988 on The Price Is Right where she also got to kiss Bob Barker. With a pedigree like that, how can it not work for me, right? The user guide disappeared many years ago, so through trial and error and some search-engine studying, I figured out how to wind and load a bobbin, set the stitch length, and thread the needle. I tackled the frame bag first.

I created a pattern from the bike’s triangle and bought some cheap muslin material. I cut all the pieces out, including strips to simulate the Velcro strips that attach the bag to the frame. This practice was well worth the time. Getting used to the sewing machine boosted my confidence, and since the bag is sewn together inside out, it forced me to focus on the geospatial aspect. The muslin bag was enough of a success that I moved on to nylon. The first nylon bag did not go well. Nylon is a thicker

SEPT 8 – 11

and stiffer material to work with, making the handling more awkward while running it through the machine. Once completed, the bag was, as my master seamstress next-door neighbor politely put it, “A bit catawampus.” But she also gave me some helpful advice for which I’m very grateful. The next bag went together well — except for the part where I got the inside-out thing wrong and had to take one side completely apart and do it over.

But the finished product looked good and, most importantly, it looked good on the bike. I sealed the inside seams and waterproofed the outside. I stuffed a towel inside and hung the bag out in the rain. For good measure I hit it with the hose for a while. The inside stayed dry. Success!

I sewed a gas tank bag without bothering with a prototype and mistakenly put one side of the Velcro straps on backwards. It was an easy fix and you don’t notice the mistake — much. The porteur bag, a box-shaped bag that sits on top of the porteur rack, was tricky because I had to figure out a reliable method for attaching the bag to the rack that would hold up to the punishment of bouncing over 500-plus miles of rough roads while holding 20 pounds of gear.

I used the bags on my bike packing trip in July.

The porteur bag was functional, but I’d feel more comfortable with an improved mounting system.

The frame and gas tank bags worked well. There’s a sense of pride and accomplishment that goes with making your own gear. It’s surprising just what you can make if you put your mind to it. Try it some time and you’ll see for yourself how fun and cool it can be. //

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Hank Greer is an avid photographer, runner, and cyclist, as well as an inconsistent Oxford comma dropper. He wrote about the business benefits of bike racks in June.

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8/18/16 5:06 PM 23 SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

Cycling in the City The State of Urban Riding in the Inland NW

By Erika Prins Simonds

Erik Solberg, a tall, thin 30-year-old newspaper

archivist who sometimes sports a curly rattail and speaks fluent Feminist, rides a silver fixed-gear bike with a handkerchief tied to the handlebars. To him, the hipster-on-a-bike stereotype he embodies is not a joke – it’s proof that bicycling is at the forefront of cultural change. Biking for transportation challenges car-dependent culture and with it, the pace of everyday life.

Bicycling is so much more than a ride to work for Solberg – it’s how he connects with his city. He’ll take the long way home to explore an unfamiliar part of town. He’s got all kinds of ideas for how we could improve our downtown streets, some imported from Geneva, Switzerland, where he spent a year guiding bike tours. For three years, he volunteered his time as a bike mechanic for Spokane’s now-defunct non-profit bike shop Pedals2People.

“Participation is always the most effective and purest form of advocacy,” Solberg says. “The one part I like the most about urban cycling culture is that it’s always something cool and people are always doing something different.”

Spokane lags far behind other Northwest cities on the infrastructure and amenities that make streets safe for bicyclists — but bicycling in Spokane becomes safer, easier and friendlier every day, in large part due to tenacious local riders with big ideas.

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

Safe City Streets

Bicycling for transportation has recently become cool again. Bike commuting has increased by more than 60% nationally in the last decade and a half — but Spokane has yet to adapt to the growing number of cyclists on the streets. The city holds a bronze rating — the lowest possible — from the League of American Bicyclists, which rates cities on their bike friendliness. A mere 14% of arterial streets have bike lanes, and only 6% of the total road network has bike facilities. That’s compared with averages of 45% and 30%, respectively, among all the cities measured.

Guided by its Master Bike Plan, which is currently undergoing a rewrite, the City of Spokane has begun to reverse that trend. But these things take time, says Ryan Patterson, chair of the City of Spokane’s Bicycle Advisory Board, which consists of city residents who advise the city on bike-related issues. (Anyone can apply to be part of it.) “The funding does kind of dictate what can be done,” Patterson says. Planned bicycle infrastructure improvements often take years to implement as the city searches for a way to pay for them. With no dedicated funding source for capital improvements, the city often seeks out state or federal grants to pay for big projects.

That’s where the Master Bike Plan comes in:

it tells the city which projects to prioritize when opportunities arise. “There are some things on the Master Bike plan that we don’t know when they’re going to happen, but it’s imperative that we get them on the Master Bike Plan. Otherwise, when the funding appears, it might be too late,” Patterson says.

Several bike lanes and intersection improvements will complete the downtown bike network this summer. First Avenue west of Monroe will be re-striped with bike lanes, and sharrows (aka shared lane pavement markings) will be added east of Monroe. Patterson says those sharrows will eventually be converted to bike lanes as well, but more car traffic means the lanes can’t be reduced without an engineering study – and that, too, takes time. “It’s the beginning. It’s establishing that this will be the bikeway,” she says. Other areas with troublesome bike paths, like the eastbound lane of Riverside at Monroe, will be improved as well.

The BAB also has a hand in helping plan the Riverfront Park remodel. To avoid conflicts between faster bikes and pedestrians in the park, a second route that circumvents the park may be included in the improvements.

Bike Share Gets a Second Chance

Two weeks after Spokane’s first bike share program launched in 1997, it was over. Robin Rivers, who covered the story for The Spokesman-Review, deemed the swift demise of a well-intentioned effort “alternative transportation gone awry.” Lilac Bicycle Program set 50 donated bikes, all painted lilac purple, loose on the streets of downtown Spokane. No locks. No deposit. Just a sticker reminding riders to be responsible, law-abiding and to leave the bike for the next user.

At the time, more than 60 American cities offered free bike programs. While organizers in other cities said some bikes had disappeared, Spokane seemed to be the only city that couldn’t hold onto a single one. At least four were pitched off the Monroe Street Bridge, their remains visible under rushing waters. Bike share programs continued to thrive and evolve in other cities while Spokane hung its head in shame for nearly two decades. That is, until now.

A 2015 amendment to the City’s Master Bike Plan added a bike share program feasibility study to the city’s list of planned bike projects. Patterson says the study has funding, but there’s been talk of using that money to run a small-scale pilot program instead. A pilot program may give insight into what a study wouldn’t: whether our city can handle the responsibility better than it could the first time around. These days, most bike share programs require riders to leave a credit card number

Top left: Bikers enjoy an evening ride on the Centennial Trail near downtown Spokane.

Photo: Shallan Knowles Bottom left: A sure sign we need more bike racks.

Photo: Shallan Knowles Top above: Bike share bikes ready to go in Seattle, WA. Photo: Mark Simonds.

Bottom above: Bike helmets are part of Seattle’s Bike Share program. Photo: courtesy People for Bikes.

Urban Trail Etiquette

By Jon Jonckers

to guard against loss. Rather than install kiosks, says Patterson, a limited pilot program would use a smartphone app.

While requiring participants to own a smartphone may limit access for some riders, it could provide the proof of concept needed to garner support for a full-scale program. “That’s the type of program you could get off the ground really fast without a lot of infrastructure,” Patterson says.

Spokane’s mandatory bike helmet law presents a hurdle for the program’s success. Seattle, which Patterson says is the only city in the country that has both a bike share program and a mandatory helmet law, has struggled to get its program off the ground in part due to helmet logistics.

Aside from helping locals get where they need to go, bike share programs provide an easy way for visitors to access affordable transportation. “To me, it seems like a no-brainer to make sure people have bikes to see the city,” Solberg says. He hopes cyclists won’t only look to city government to provide answers for better access to bikes. He’s used a site called Spinlister, which is kind of like AirBnB for renting other people’s equipment. Only five bikes were listed for Spokane when we visited the site – including one of Solberg’s, which goes for $20 per day – but if one of the bikes fits, the price beats local bike shops. The Red Lion Hotel at the Park and Hotel Ruby offer free bike rentals for their guests, providing another way for out-of-towners to see Spokane on two wheels without spending a fortune.

Parking Progress

With more people out riding in the city, having enough secure bike racks is critical. The good news on that front is that the Downtown Spokane Partnership plans to install new bike racks, purchased using downtown parking meter funds, in the city center soon.

“We purchased 30 new racks. We are replacing some of the existing racks which are damaged or unusable, but the intention is to deploy them to places where we’ve noticed a need for them, especially restaurants and coffee shops,” said Elisabeth Hooker, DSP’s Marketing and Programming Manager. “We want bikers to feel comfortable taking a break from their ride to enjoy some of our downtown businesses, and that’s easier when you know your bike is safely locked.”

Meanwhile, the Bicycle Advisory Board continues to work with the city to define bike parking guidelines that recommend best practices for bike rack design, placement and installation. The guidelines would inform both the city’s practices on public sidewalks and racks installed by business owners or other organizations. “We don’t want to

prohibit anyone from adding bicycle parking on their own, but were really hoping people can follow best practices when they do,” Patterson says.

Making Friends

Despite lagging in street improvements per the League of American Bicyclist’s criteria, Spokane excels in education, outreach and active bike culture. An active bike plan, bike advocacy groups, a citizen advisory board to the city and a robust Bike to Work Week program all count toward its high marks. But those measurements only scratch the surface of the culture and conversation around biking in Spokane. Social rides, online groups and other unofficial communities around niche interests continue to pop up each year.

Several Facebook groups give local bicyclists a forum for sharing their experiences, news, routes and gripes about local biking. Spokane Women Bike Commuters, Spokane Family Biking, Get Around Spokane Using Pedals (GASUP), Spokane’s Slow Bike Movement and a host of others allow new users to join or request to be added. “It gives you that opportunity to meet people or to feel that there are other people out there that you might not know in real life, or who you don’t interact with in your workplace, but are equally interested in biking,” says Patterson, who is active in several bikeoriented Facebook groups.

On the in-real-life front, the Drop-Outs Vintage & Cruiser Bicycle Club meets and rides from the Swamp Tavern the first Sunday of every month at 3 p.m. Everyone’s welcome, though as indicated by the name, the group fancies vintage bikes.

The F*cking Bike Club (FBC) ended its heavilyattended monthly full moon rides from the Swamp Tavern in 2013, leaving somewhat of a vacuum of biking groups for casual riders. The club, among the first in the country, has since inspired many offshoots including a booming Sandpoint ride.

Three years later, a new iteration of the Spokane FBC and a second group called Fourth Friday Pub Peddlers have followed in its footsteps with evening rides from the Swamp. As yet, none has garnered the numbers of the FBC, but maybe that’s alright.

In this case, smaller might be better.

Tim Deihl, a 28-year-old Washington Air National Guard boom operator, organizes Fourth Friday Pub Peddlers with his dad, Dave. The fatherson duo made a ritual of attending the original FBC’s rides together. “We really liked the FBC ride and we wanted it to continue,” the younger Deihl says. Unlike the logistical nightmare of the original FBC – finding bars willing to host hundreds of rowdy cyclists, wrangling sponsors and raffling off prizes – leading a smaller group of 20

or so riders requires little effort, says Deihl. “It’s getting together with people who you aren’t going to normally run into,” he says. “Meeting new people, doing a hobby we all enjoy.” //

Top: The Final FBC riders getting ready to tear up the city. Photo: Shallan Knowles

The golden rule for nearly every community trail in America is simple. Whether you run, walk, or ride, do so in a manner that maximizes the use for everyone else. Time and again, trail users complain about the same problems such as doggie doo, speed limits, or too many people side by side making it difficult to pass.

None of these issues will disappear in the near future, but if we increase awareness, we can decrease frustrations and reduce accidents.

Rules posted at most trailheads serve as a reminder for what you can expect from others as well as how you should behave.

Urban trails such as the Centennial Trail and the Fish Lake Trail receive significant use year-round, and that use is likely to increase in the coming decades. Practicing good trail manners, including obeying speed limits, is imperative, and obeying the rules ensures that everyone has a good experience. It also helps preserve the experience for future users. //

Bottom: Riders line up at SpokeFest 2015, an event that has become a Spokane cycling tradition. Photo: Shallan Knowles

SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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Biking the Rock Lake Loop

By Nick Thomas My riding partner Bill and I left Spokane midmorning with only a hint of the adventure in store a mere 60 miles to the southwest. We took the freeway to Sprague, where we spent half an hour checking out the treasure trove of patinacovered antique trucks and other old vehicles clustered around the quaint town. We headed south on State Route 23 and then onto Damrell Road. When we arrived at the south end of Rock Lake, the dirt parking lot was packed with the pickups of anglers who lined every foot of the shore and bridge fishing the largest lake in Eastern Washington for rainbow trout, Black Crappie, Sun Perch, and Largemouth Bass.

Unstrapping our hybrid bikes, we pedaled back up Rock Lake Road a quarter mile to the gated, unlocked rail grade. This is the start of arguably the most dramatic portion of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, part of the final eastern stretch of that longest cross-state rail-trail in the U.S. For 7 miles the gravel trail led us along on the cliff side, at some points 200 feet or more above the scabland lake.

We were careful to mind the unguarded edges and watch for holes and weak spots in the trestle’s decking, especially at the east end of the big steel trestle.

Outside one tunnel we met three young men in their 20s, day hikers from Spokane exploring the

trail for the first time. Avid explorers, they try to go on a new hike every weekend. “This is amazing – we had no idea!” they said. We concurred.

They had a nice camera and were photographing the narrow lake stretched out far below us, shimmering in the afternoon sun. On the other side, brown basalt cliffs rose hundreds of feet, showing us a kind of mirror image of what we were traversing. Individual layers of ancient lava flows were clearly visible, long horizontal cracks running the length of cliffs. I fantasize that one day a trail might run the length of the top of that ridgeline, creating a true Rock Lake Loop, but double the height of the south route.

Riding through the eastern-most tunnel, I saw Bill silhouetted in the huge opening at the other end, and suddenly I gained a sense of the monumental task of the Milwaukee Road, both that of the engineers and surveyors, as well as the laborers who actually built it one rail tie at a time. We were travelling a ghost track built by legions of Chinese laborers who worked for pennies. They toiled away through hot, dry summers and cold, dark winters only to be shipped back home as soon as the last spike was hammered.

Sliding down a ravine toward a creek, tipped on their sides and dented up, two derailed train

Top: a rider chills out after making it through one of the cool, old tunnels on the John Wayne Trail. //Bottom Left: The big trestle - watch for holes and weak planks. // Bottom right:RUSTING RAILCAR RUINS FROM A DERAILMENT OVER PINE CREEK ON THE JWT. // Photos: Nick Thomas

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cars sat unmoved – abandoned relics of the great Milwaukee Road that once ran from Tacoma clear to Chicago before declaring bankruptcy in 1980.

Washington State purchased it for $3 million as part of a grand vision for a public-use non-motorized corridor across the Northwest. Since then it has sat largely unfunded and unimproved. Yet over the past year or so, landowners and rail-trail enthusiasts have rallied for the state to improve the trail as a resource for tourism, a boon to rural townships seeking new revenue streams, and a unification of Eastern and Western Washington. An adequately improved trail would symbolically and literally bridge both halves of a state too often at odds with each other.

An hour later and a ways east of the lake, Bill and I reached the gravel Hole-In-the-Ground Road. Here we stopped to rest, eat leftover pizza, and drink the last of our water. We debated going back the way we came or riding north on county roads to make a loop. Eager for new terrain, we forged onward. Despite adding 13 miles (it looked so short on Google Maps!), the loop through dry pine woods, rolling wheat fields, and old farmsteads was gorgeous, and it gave me a new perspective on a landscape unknown to this mostly city bike-commuter.

Flying down the hill into Hole-In-the-Ground, we crossed the lush stream that led to Bonnie Lake and flung ourselves back up the long, steep hill of the north slope. Continuing on the gravel Belsby Road at the top of the hill, we finally hit pavement again, turned left on Rock Lake Road, and rode this all the way back to the dirt parking lot where we started. By the time we crested the last hill and saw the south end of the lake, a dunk in the lake sounded wonderful, but alas, the shore was packed with fishermen, the cool shallows filled with too many fish hooks. A few anglers smiled and waved farewell to us as we loaded the bikes, climbed into the hot van and headed home. We were worn out by the staggering views as much as the 30-mile ride, but we were excited by the prospect of coming to Rock Lake again.

If you go, take plenty of food and more water than you think you’ll need as there are no services available. Lastly, a word of caution: Ride on the left side of the road; cars and trucks, most pulling boat trailers, don’t have much time to avoid you when whipping around a bend. At least in the left lane you have the sight advantage. // Nick Thomas wrote about biking the John Wayne Trail in March.

RaceReport

Wild Moose Chase and Sandpoint Scenic Half Marathon // By Janelle McCabe

2016 Trail Runs Idaho / E. Washington Oct 8 Riverside* Oct 29 Halloween at Hell’s Gate* *State Park Series www.trailmaniacs.com

Food&Fuel

When More is not better //

Explaining Portion Control to a Gluttonous Nation

By Ammi Midstokke Runners ready to take on the beautiful Sandpoint Scenic Half course.

Sandpoint Scenic Half Marathon (September 18)

My first non-motorized experience with the famous Sandpoint “Long Bridge” didn’t involve crossing the bridge at all but rather swimming alongside it during the annual Long Bridge Swim.

During the event, I periodically looked up to see my husband wave as he walked across the bridge with the other spectators while their loved ones swam the 1.76-mile length of the bridge. The event was fun, well-organized, and well-supported (and the post-race food was the best I’ve experienced at any event), but my runner’s legs are stronger than my swimmer’s arms, and I was eager to experience the bridge on foot. A month and a half later, I crossed the starting line of the Sandpoint Scenic Half Marathon, which begins and ends at Sandpoint City Beach. This event offers three distances: 5K, 10K, and half marathon. For the past several years, around 500 runners have finished the half marathon distance, which is a high enough number to generate pre-race adrenaline and excitement, and a low enough number that you don’t feel like you’ll get lost in the masses. The friendly, small-town atmosphere of this race feels personal and genuine, and both the runners and volunteers arrive ready to have fun.

The race organizers rerouted the half marathon course last year. Previously, after running the first 10 miles out over the Long Bridge and then south toward Sagle and back, runners would return to the Sandpoint City Beach only to be sent back out on a quick 3-mile out-and-back along the northward Creekside Trail. After catching a mocking glimpse of the finish line at mile 10, I found that last 3 miles more punishing than all the rest. Now, after first crossing the Long Bridge, the new course takes runners west along Lakeshore Drive and back, which introduces more hills but eliminates that final 3-mile out-and-back of previous years.

The event is organized by the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, which donates a portion of the registration fees to Community Cancer Services, a local nonprofit organization that provides financial help and emotional support to anyone in Bonner or Boundary counties with a cancer diagnosis. For more information, visit Scenichalf.com.

Wild Moose Chase Trail Run (September 24)

The fall morning chill comes a little earlier in the year when you’re at 4,500 feet elevation, which is

where the Wild Moose Chase Trail Run is staged at the Selkirk Lodge on Mount Spokane. The event uses fun, challenging trails maintained by the Spokane Nordic Ski Association. Summer weather in Spokane often extends well into September, so when we parked and opened the doors, the cold mountain air made us second guess our bare arms and legs. The constant elevation gains and losses of trail running on a mountain warm you up right away though, so we happily shivered at the start line while we enjoyed the tradeoff of a sunny alpine morning. The Wild Moose Chase offers three distances: 5K, 10K, and 25K. The 5K has historically been the most popular of the distances, but race organizer Emma Lohr states that interest in the 25K has been growing steadily over the years. My running partner and I chose the middle distance and experienced beautiful, mostly forested trails that opened up a couple times to sunny meadows before ducking back into the trees.

Friendly and supportive race volunteers stationed along the trails made sure that each runner stayed on course. The 10K course took an L-shaped loop over mostly single track trails that went from easy to moderate to difficult and back to moderate in steepness, and by the time we crossed the finish line, we were thankful that we’d resisted the urge to put on warmer layers at the start.

Since 2012, The Wild Moose Chase has operated as a fundraiser for second-year EWU Doctorate of Physical Therapy students to attend the annual conference of the American Physical Therapy Association, which provides students with an opportunity to learn about the latest research in their field and to network with PTs from all over the country. “Money raised from the Wild Moose Chase combined with other fundraisers has allowed every student to attend [the conference] who wanted to,” explains Lohr. In past years, The Wild Moose Chase has been a part of the Inland Northwest Trail Running Series. However, it is functioning as an independent race this year. “We are collaborating with some wonderful business sponsors,” Lohr says, “and we already have some great raffle contributions.” For more information, visit the Wild Moose Chase Trail Run page on Facebook. // Janelle McCabe is a Jill-of-some-trades, masterof-none who writes about the Inland Northwest outdoor and active community. She wrote about the WunderWoman Triathlon and the Coeur d’Alene Scenic Challenge Triathlon in August.

Whenever those science peeps in lab coats learn how to condense appropriately nourishing meals, the tradition of cooking, and the socializing of eating into a single pill, I’m gonna buy that.

But until then, we all have to choose what and how much we eat.

The marketplace has been ripe for change and now caters to our growing demand for “healthy, convenient” choices. Not only is there a plethora of options around us, but there is also an abundance of food. Many of us are eating the right things yet eating too much of them. There is so much food that we carelessly consume it and then joke about being runners so we can keep up our doughnut habits. I honestly look forward to five-hour rides because of all the food it will justify.

Yet studies show again and again that overconsumption of food (and some specific foods in particular) leads to myriad health problems. Even if you burn the calories, you may still get the damage hence the rising occurrence of diabetes in athletes.

Studies also show us that moderate calorie consumption promotes longevity, reduces inflammation, and positively contributes to our bodies’ ability to reduce oxidative stress (a key component in cancer).

I’m not recommending all those socially acceptable ways to be anorexic (see cleanses, intermittent fasting, and Isagenix). I’m talking about any meal ever served to you at a Mexican restaurant, Thanksgiving, and all those ridiculous post-workout feasts we reward ourselves with. Our bodies are not designed to consume that much. Our lives are more sedentary than before. We embrace bizarre hobbies to make up for the fact that we don’t hunt on foot and scavenge for food anymore. We used to burn as many calories finding dinner as we ate during dinner.

So without counting calories, weighing food, or checking ourselves into an overeaters’ clinic, how do we know how much food we should be

eating? I saw the other day that a serving size of hummus is the size of a golf ball. Which is approximately enough for two cucumber slices in my book. Clearly we need to adjust our understanding of portion sizes. This is much easier said than done. It takes a little self-awareness and a lot of self-honesty (two things I struggle with every time I go to a barbecue or approach a cake). Here are a few realities of portion sizes. A serving of meat, chicken, or fish is approximately 3 ounces or the size of a deck of cards. Chances are, you eat about three of those at dinner. A half cup of rice is the size of an ice cream scoop. Not a dish of Coldstone’s. A serving of fruit is not an entire Fuji apple, but rather

I’m talking about any meal ever served to you at a Mexican restaurant, Thanksgiving, and all those ridiculous post-workout feasts we reward ourselves with. Our bodies are not designed to consume that much. about half that apple.

We don’t need to throw our chicken breast on a scale or fear food. We must simply take a candid look at our plates and ask ourselves: Do I need this much food right now? Could I serve less on my plate and have leftovers for breakfast? Will I starve to death if I don’t eat an 8-ounce steak at dinner?

Having an abundance of food available to us does not mean we must eat it all. Grab a smaller plate for dinner. Fill it as much as you need. Chew every bite with gratitude. Your body will repay your kindness. // Ammi Midstokke is a nutritional therapist in Sandpoint. She wrote about abstaining from alcohol for a year in August. To find out more about saving the world with kale, visit her website at www. twobirdsnutrition.com.

SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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OutThereSpotlight The Buffalo Bike Soldiers’ Epic Trek Across the West // By Erika Prins Simonds which weighed 32 pounds even without their tents, more than a decade. blanket rolls, and knapsacks — through Montana’s Moss led the way in Beaver Creek. Despite the miles that would somepushing the U.S. Army to times lag between them on the open road as they “modernize” by adopting navigated bikes as transportation rocks and for troops, but he wasn’t w a g o n alone in his infatuation wheel ruts, with bicycles. Germany t he re g i was field-testing its own bicycle corps as early as ment would 1886. England and France regroup had also begin using bikes into miliin the military. Roads in tary formathe American West weren’t tion before the buffalo soldiers “marching” along on their bikes. // entering nearly as bike-friendly as Photo courtesy of the historic wallace chamber of commerce. each town.

European streets, so Moss Wy o m i n g Twenty soldiers from the 25th Infantry had souped-up bikes with steel rims, puncturebrought a Regiment rode from Fort Missoula, Montana, to proof tires, reinforced forks, and enclosed gear St. Louis, Missouri, in 1897. It took them 41 days cases custom-made for the 25th Regiment’s journey. brief reprieve of good weather before the soldiers to make the 1,900-mile trek — and unlike the On June 14, 1897, the soldiers departed from faced a new challenge: the sandhills of Nebraska mounted soldiers who came before them, these Fort Missoula. By noon, they were bogged down and up to 110-degree temperatures. Moss wrote men were in bike saddles. by heavy rain. They spent the following afternoon in his diary that the roads were often “a disgrace The army was segregated at the turn of the cendragging their bikes on foot through soggy, bad to civilization.” roads. By day four, they were slogging through When they finally rode into St. Louis on July 24 tury and the 25th was one of four African American at 6:30 p.m., hundreds of local cyclists pedaled out regiments, known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” led by white blinding snow. They carried their loaded bikes — officers. Lieutenant James A. Moss had run shorter experimental bike trips in a bid to persuade the Buffalo Soldiers History Presentation in Wallace, Idaho, October 7 Army to use bicycles for travel in mountainous territories instead of marching troops on foot or John P. Langellier, historian and author of recently published “Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Soldiers horseback. The men’s journey was the lengthiest of in the Frontier Army,” will show rare photos and speak about the African American soldiers known Moss’s practice runs. They averaged more than 6 as “Buffalo Soldiers” at the Sixth Street Theater in Wallace, Idaho, at 7 p.m. October 7. Langellier miles per hour and 50 miles per day on their “safety has gathered more than 150 images and countless stories of the men, including those who journeyed bikes” — bikes with equal-sized wheels and a chain across 1,900 of the American West by bicycle in 1897. drive — which had only been around for a little

to escort them into the city. They were celebrated by bicycle clubs during their week of rest there before boarding a train to return to Missoula. By all measures, the journey proved the worth of bicycle

By day four, they were slogging through blinding snow. They carried their loaded bikes — which weighed 32 pounds even without their tents, blanket rolls, and knapsacks —

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OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016

music and perspectives

transportation in the military. Moss estimated the 25th Regiment traveled twice as fast as cavalry or infantry at a third of the cost and effort. But the timing wasn’t right. The impending Spanish-American War caused Moss’s superiors to lose all interest in the bicycle experiment, and the 25th Regiment was sent to Cuba — without their bikes. The regiment would serve in the Philippine-American War, World War I, and World War II before being inactivated in 1946, just a few years before President Harry Truman ended segregation of the military.// Erika Prins Simonds writes our Everyday Cyclist column. She also wrote about getting cardio when the air quality is bad in our August issue. Find more of Erika’s writing at erikaprins.com.

OutdoorCalendar RUNNING (September 3-5) Kootenay Sufferfest. Where: Kaslo, B.C. 50, 25, 12, and 6k trail runs. 100KM, 40KM, 15KM rides. Suffercross, Duathlons and Junior Duathlons. Info: Kootenaysufferfest.com (September 10) The 3rd Annual Riggins Salmon Run. Where: Riggins, Idaho. This is a family-friendly event offering multiple distances including a Kids Fun Run for children ages 3-6 years, as well as a half marathon, 10k and 5k distances. The finish line for all distances will be at Riggins City Park where runners and their families can enjoy live music, food and drinks. Info:rigginssalmonrun.com

(September 10) Lake Chelan Marathon, Half & 10K. Where: Chelan, Washington. This

Park. Proceeds benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Strollers welcome. Info: RoundAbout5K.com

(September 18) Scenic Half Marathon. Where: Sandpoint. With a route across Sandpoint’s iconic Long Bridge, offering panoramic views of Lake Pend Oreille and the surrounding mountains, the Scenic Half Marathon attracts hundreds of runners from all across the country. Info: Scenichalf.com

(September 24) Priest Lake Marathon. Where: Priest Lake, Idaho. An off-pavement running adventure through the Panhandle National Forest. The scenery of a trail race, but on drivable dirt forest road with full course support like a road race. All runners beginner to elite love this course for its scenic trail run-like experience. Info: Priestlakerace.com

RunWenatchee-produced race is considered by many to be one of Washington’s premier destination events because of the sights and amenities at Lake Chelan.

It is a point-to-point course. Runners are transported from Manson to the start lines by shuttle.

The event is a USA Track & Field certified race. Info: Adventurewenatchee.com

(September 24) Happy Girls Run. Where: Spokane. Women’s half marathon, 10k and 5k runs with great post-race festivities and fabulous goody bags. Info: Happygirlsrun.com

(September 17) Autumn Bloom 5K/10K. Where:

Where: Rathdrum, Idaho. The premier “alternative” triathlon in North Idaho. Mountain bike Rathdrum Mountain or along a beautiful path, kayak Twin Lakes, and then run the trails back to Rathdrum’s charming City Park. There is a long and short course and you can compete as an individual or as a team.

Info: Rathdrumadventurerace.org

Newport, Wash. A second seed qualifier for Bloomsday 2017. Info: Newporthospitalandhealth.org

(September 18) Round About 5K. Where: Deer Park Physical Therapy & Fitness Center. When: 9 a.m.

A walk/run that weaves around the streets of Deer

TRIATHLONS/MULTI-SPORT (September 10) Rathdrum Adventure Race.

SEPTEMBER 2016 BIKING (September 3-5) Kootenay Sufferfest. Where: New Denver, B.C. Both a test of fortitude and a family-friendly event with something for everyone. 100, 40, and 15K xc mountain bike races and the Marin Denim Crit. Info: Kootenaysufferfest.com (September 10) Ovando Gran Fondo.

Where: Ovando, Mont. When: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Fifth annual off-road ride. Fully supported 55-mile ride through some of Western Montana’s most scenic landscapes on dirt roads. Info: missoulasymphony.org/ride

(September 11) SpokeFest.

Where: Riverfront Park, Spokane. When: 8:30 a.m. Various distance rides for all ages of riders through Spokane. Helmets required. Info: Spokefest.com

(September 17) Blazing Saddles Bike Ride.

Where: Colville, Wash. This is a fully-supported ride with rest and food stops as well as mechanical and medical sweeps throughout the course. There are four different courses along northeast Washington’s famed road biking routes: 20-mile, 40-mile, a metric century, and a century. The ride benefits Colville Rotary projects.

Info: Blazing100.org

(September 18) Rotary in Motion “RIM” Ride.

Where: Liberty Lake, Wash. Enjoy a scenic ride of 15, 25, 50 or 100 miles through beautiful areas of Liberty Lake, Post Falls, Green Bluff and Spokane Valley.

Cyclists of all ages and ability levels are welcome.

Routes will be clearly marked, with food stops, and medical and mechanical support. Proceeds from this ride support various Rotary Club and community outreach projects. Info: Rotaryinmotion.com

WATERSPORTS (September 24) Head of the Pend Oreille Regatta. A weekend of activities in Priest River, Idaho, starts with a Friday evening row-by and 1K sprint race along with a family BBQ at the Priest River Yacht Club. On Saturday morning there will be a 5k head race on the beautiful Pend Oreille and Priest Rivers. Info: HOPregatta.org

HIKING (September 17) Bird Watching Walk to Big Rock. Where: Stevens Creek Parking Lot. When: 7 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Stevens Creek is home to more than 50 species of breeding birds, including migrant breeding song birds. The hike is 2 miles at a leisurely pace. Cost: $25, includes Dishman Hills membership.

Info: dishmanhills.org

(September 24) Iller Creek Hike. Where: Redeemer Lutheran Church. When: 8:45 a.m. A 5.5 mile hike with 1500 feet of elevation gain at a medium pace led by Mary Weathers. Pack a snack and water, and wear good hiking shoes. Cost: Free, please register. Info: dishmanhills.org

SIXMONTH TRAININGCALENDAR BIKING (October 1) Rivers and Ridges Ride. Where: Clarkston, Wash. The Rotary Club of Clarkston invites cyclists to come explore the area on a road bike on routes over major rivers, through the famous Palouse and back. The ride includes three familyfriendly courses (7 14, and 25 mile) as well as challenging half century and full century routes. Info: Riversandridgesride.org

RUNNING (October 1) Colbert Half Marathon.

Where: Colbert Elementary School. When: 8 a.m. Sweatshirts are awarded to finishers. Awards to the top three male and female finishers. This is a new course. Info: brrc.net

(October 1) Run Like a Girl Half Marathon and 10K. Where: Bellingham, Wash. When: 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. This non-competitive event is for those who just want to have fun. Go as far as you feel comfortable, no pressure to finish. Go as fast or as slow as you like.

Experience the chocolate mile and other suprises along the way. One-of-a-kind hand-made medals at the finish line. Info: whatcomymca.org

(October 8) State Park Series. Where: Bowl & Pitcher, Spokane. When: 9 a.m. This is #4 of the trail run series. Info: trailmanics.com (October 15) Hayden Lake Marathon.

Where: Hayden Lake, Idaho. Enjoy breathtaking views while

Rolling river run with short hills, rocks and open praire. Double track, single track, Forest Service roads, and even a little gravel and pavement. Info: ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=32772

(December 3) Jingle Bell Run. Where: Riverfront

Chalet on Mt. Spokane. Topics in the 16-hour class include: patient assessment, how to provide longterm care with limited resources, the decision of when to call for help, and treatments such as splinting, wound care and managing spine injuries. The course schedule includes classroom time, as well as hands-on skills practice through medical scenarios and labs. Cost: $190. Info: LongLeafMedical..com

Park | Northbank Shelter. 5K Race to support The Arthritis Foundation. Costumes and holiday wear encouraged. Info: jbr.org

(October 21-22) Tangled Up | Women on the Fly. Where: Kalispel Golf & Country Club, Spokane.

(October 15) Oktoberfest Trail Runs. Where: Leavenworth, Wash. The Oktoberfest Trail Runs (10mile and 8K, plus a kids’ race) are held on Wenatchee National Forest lands near Leavenworth, with the start and finish occurring at the Leavenworth ski hill facility. The event is held during the community’s famous Oktoberfest celebration. Info: Runwenatchee.com

OTHER

running past golf courses, lakes, horse pastures, farms, and North Idaho forests. The full marathon, half and quarter distances all start and finish at Hayden Lake’s Honeysuckle Beach. Info: Haydenlakemarathon.org

(October 15) Chocolate Chip Cookie 50K Trail Run. Where: Riverside State Park Equestrian Area.

(October 16) Sekani Trail Run.

Where: Camp Sekani, Spokane. The 8th annual trail run is a 5k/10k event (plus a free Kids’ 1k) with 100% dirt trails and fabulous course challenges with 700 feet of elevation gain for the 10k run! The trails run above the Spokane River and provide great views of the City of Spokane and surrounding areas. Proceeds benefit Franklin Elementary’s APPLE program. Info: Sekanitrailrun.com

(November 5) Sugar Rush 5K/10K.

Where: Gonzaga University Campus. When: 8:30 a.m..

Finishers enjoy a cup of hot cocoa followed by a truffle reception. Race bnenfits Inland NW Baby. Info:

www.active.com/spokane-wa/running/distance-running-races/sugar-rush-2016

(November 24) Turkey on the Run. Where: Rotary Park, Wenatchee. When: 9 a.m. - noon. 12K and 5K options. Info: RunWenatchee.com

(October 8) Radical Reels Tour. Where: Salvation Army Kroc Center, Coeur d’Alene. When: 7:30 p.m. - 10 p.m. A collection of 11 high-adrenaline, action films from the Banff Centre, this year featuring “Balloonskiing”, kayaking in Mexico, downhill mountain bike lines in the Italian Dolomites, “Freerunning” on the Isle of Man, skiing Japan by van as well as climbing on the red rocks of Namibia in Africa. Info: Mountain-Fever.com (Showing at the Panida Theater October 7) (October 15-16) Wilderness First Aid Certification. Where: Spokane Mountaineers’

One-of-a-kind fly fishing instructional weekend.

Optional dinner showcasing farm raised and wild caught salmon, including health facts. Casting instructions on the fall greens followed by lunch from award winning chefs. Info: Inlandnwland.org

(October 29) Deep Creek Preserve-Bird Migration. Where: 52975 Bisson Road, Reardan.

When: 9 a.m.-11 a.m. Children are welcome, no pets please. The terrain is unstable with no established paths, proper shoe attire is required. Dress for weather conditions. This location is home to over 200 kids of birds and other wetland species. Bring spotting scope or binoculars. Learn more about the Deep Creek Preserve, and migratory birds. Info: InlandNWLand.org

Have an Event You Would Like to List?

Please visit www.outtheremonthly.com and click “Add Event” under the “Outdoor Calendar” tab to get your events listed online and considered for the monthly print magazine calendar. To be considered for the print calendar, events MUST be entered by the 20th of the month to be listed in the following month’s issue. Please follow the instructions for submitting an event using the web form.

SEPTEMBER 2016 / OutThereMonthly.com

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Last Page The Family Car // A Conduit for Adventure

By Amy Silbernagel McCaffree

Perhaps it was during a relentless rainstorm

The loyal adventure car can start to feel like a member of the family. // Photo: Amy Silbernagel McCaffree

at Mount Rainier National Park while sitting in the backseat of my Subaru Outback with my son, when he was 4 months old, when I first realized my grateful attachment. Or maybe it started years before, when that same car carried my husband and me over snowy mountain passes and along rugged forest roads time and again.

Road trip after road trip, I’ve realized how reliable and necessary the family car is to successful outdoor adventures. Of course, there’s the gear it carries – camping supplies, bikes, alpine skis, double kayak (not all at once) – thanks to various roof-rack systems and a cargo box as well as a hitchmounted bike rack. When tent camping, the car becomes a storage container. We took trips with two large dogs in the back before kids came along.

Then the dogs stayed behind to make room for fivepoint harness child carseats and baby gear. How my husband expertly loads our car for big trips is a skill that still astounds me.

Dependable in any weather and with five-star safety ratings, “Subie” earned my respect and, dare I say, love through the years. Its trustworthy performance boosted my confidence, especially when driving on snowy roads. But it was more than that.

It was where we listened to our favorite songs.

Where we shared contented silence. Where my husband and I had uninterrupted conversations.

The family car felt like home away from home.

It surprised me to realize how much a car became entrenched in my family’s narrative – a background character in our travel stories. Yet it was the constant element as we ventured to vari-

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Downtown Spokane & Valley locations

Sept 18 9 a.m.

A Lukemia & Lymphoma Society Benefit Run or walk a weaving and winding route through the streets of Deer Park that includes the town’s two roundabouts.

www.RoundAbout5K.com

ous Pacific and Inland Northwest destinations and back home again, whether it was to western Washington’s San Juan Islands or Sisters, Oregon, or Montana’s Glacier National Park. Subie was a conduit for adventure. With its dents and scratches, eventually it started to feel like part of the family – a team member fulfilling a valuable role. So much so that when it came time to get an upgraded, newer model, it was bittersweet after 10 years to say goodbye to the “family car” – the one we had from the pre-newlywed stage of life through early parenthood. But of course a different car only started the next chapter of travel memories when we returned to parks and campgrounds and ventured to new destinations.

Perhaps it’s silly to feel this way. It’s just a car, a machine, a piece of utility gear. Yet there it is, heavy with memory. My family car became a symbol, a catalyst for nostalgia: “Remember when we went to …camped …skied …biked …kayaked...?” And don’t we all get emotionally attached sometimes to certain gear? Bikes, boats, skis, lake cabins – these all hold memories.

Ultimately, though, what’s most important is the family inside the car. After an exhausting day of recreation or during a long road trip, I like to look at my children sleeping peacefully in the back seat.

It’s these quiet moments of reflection when I better understand that the journey, however long, is always good. // Amy Silbernagel McCaffree writes our Out There Kids column. She enjoys sharing stories that inspire people to be more active and adventurous.

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Black Diamond Orbit Lantern Reg $29.95 SALE $19.98

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Patagonia Men’s R1 Hoody Women’s R1 Full Zip Jacket $159.00

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Selk Bag Kids Marvel Reg $99.00 SALE 69.97

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Brand 44 Voodoo Slackline Reg $79.95 SALE $44.98 in the Selkirk mountains of N Idaho 32Chimney Rock; OutThereMonthly.com / SEPTEMBER 2016 Photo: Jim Rueckel

Thursday Sept 29, Mountain Gear Corporate Headquarters, 7:00 pm Bonnie Olin, author of The Owyhee River Journals, will bring this beautiful area’s story to life with a special speaking & slideshow presentation.