Kayaking the Little Spokane River
Hey all, I'm almost done writing recaps of Greyson and my Washington and Oregon road trip! After Leavenworth, we headed to my hometown of Reardan, Washington. While nearby Spokane has several interesting looking mountain bike trails in the area, it was too hot for us to ride. Instead, we decided to go kayaking on the Little Spokane River.
Kayaking the Little Spokane River // tahoefabulous.com
My parents have a couple of kayaks, and suggested this activity to us. They were even nice enough to drop us off at the put in and pick us up at the pull out! We got on the river at the put in between St. Georges School and the fish hatchery off of Waikiki Road in north Spokane. We drove around a little to find the exact spot, but if you're following google map directions to St. Georges, you'll see the parking lot to the right, and it's fairly obvious.
Map via Google Maps
The paddle we did was super easy - I am definitely not a skilled paddler with no rapids, real obstacles, and we were floating downstream. The river gets shallow in spots, so most of the paddling was to avoid gravel bars and to stay on course through the S-curves. It took us ~2 hours, 15 minutes to paddle 6.6 miles, and that included a stop for a cooling swim.
We saw tons of great birds, including herons, mergansers, hawks, and other birds I didn't recognize. The water is so clear, and we saw huge trout (probably due to the nearby fish hatchery) throughout the whole length of the river. It made me want to come back with a fishing pole! We also saw a couple of beavers.
The river meanders slowly through willows, meadows and pine forests (including a burn area from a few years ago). It also goes by some houses that have awesome river access.
The pull out we used wasn't super well marked, but it was on the left side of the river, with some parking, after going under a bridge and before some concrete barriers and a big white building, a little more than 6.5 miles from the start, according to my Garmin. While kayaking isn't usually my number one pick for an activity, I had a great time paddling this section of the Little Spokane. It was super easy and a beautiful way to spend a hot summer day.
Little Spokane Paddle Course via Strava