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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Snowshoe loop trail marked near Mount Spokane nordic area

Cris Currie of the Friends of Mount Spokane State Park, shown here during the firm snow conditions during the holiday break of 2013,  helped mark a new loop trail for snowshoers starting near Selkirk Lodge. (courtesy)
Cris Currie of the Friends of Mount Spokane State Park, shown here during the firm snow conditions during the holiday break of 2013, helped mark a new loop trail for snowshoers starting near Selkirk Lodge. (courtesy)
WINTER SPORTS --  The Friends of Mt. Spokane State Park, which have a list of trails and routes posted on their website, have opened a new 1.3-mile snowshoe route that starts near the Mount Spokane Cross-Country Ski Park.  Here's a description, posted today by Cris Currie, the friends group president:
It's called the Trail 260 Loop and starts just below the Selkirk Lodge. From the Lodge, hike east and downhill and cross the Linder Ridge Road. Go around the closed sign to the pink flagging and then head straight downhill. 
 
If you are on the groomed Nordic trail, you have gone to far! Just find the easiest way and head straight down until you get the to Condo Road. There is no flagging or trail on this portion of the route.
 
Turn right on the road and pass through a large logged area with great views. After going around a bend and crossing over a wooded stream, there will be another small logged area. Head uphill into the logged area, following some more pink flagging, and then find Trail 260 heading to the right. It is an old logging road that gradually climbs the hill back to the starting point.
 
I opened up the trail last summer and trimmed it a few weeks ago. Yesterday I tracked the whole route and added some more flagging. I would consider it an intermediate trail and it took me less than an hour. You can easily extend it by hiking more of the Condo Road in either direction.
 
The road is on Inland Empire Paper Co. property until it enters the SnowBlaze property. If you follow it east, you will come to the groomed Nordic trails at the bridge. (Snowshoeing is prohibited on the groomed ski trails.) 
 
Trail 260 was going to be a snowmobile route to get the machines off the Linder Ridge Road until IEPCO banned snowmobiling completely from their property. So now we can use it as a snowshoe route! Enjoy!
Also today, snowshoeing volunteer Warren D. Walker signed the Trail 140 route to the Mount Spokane summit.
 
Snow conditions currently are, shall we say, very firm at Mount Spokane, with an icy crust over softer snow, as the photo of Currie (above) indicates.


Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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